Labor and the coalition are neck-and-neck on the eve of Malcolm Turnbull seeking a July 2 election.

“We know they’re going to have that fight. Let’s all make them have it from opposition,” he told reporters in Sydney today.

He accused the Coalition of viewing education as a cost instead of “an investment in every Australian’s future”.

That prompted this response from Deputy PM Julie Bishop: “We have increased funding for education that’s been paid for, not pie in the sky promises that Bill Shorten has made that haven’t been paid for.”

A Seven-ReachTel poll — the first to rate the parties since Tuesday’s Budget — puts the two-party result at 50-50, as the Prime Minister is poised to visit Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove tomorrow to ask for a double dissolution election.

While the Liberals’ primary vote of 41.4 per cent is just above its 2013 election result, Labor is expected to strongly benefit from Greens and Nick Xenophon Team preferences.

Labor needs a national swing of 4.3 per cent to unseat the Coalition government after only one term. The Coalition can afford to lose 14 seats on a swing of three per cent.

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