The road map to a federal election

FEDERAL ELECTION: HOW WE GET THERE

* Malcolm Turnbull has the two triggers he wants to ask the governor-general to dissolve both houses of parliament for an election on July 2.

* The prime minister needs to make that call by May 11.

* Before then parliament will sit for at least one week so that Treasurer Scott Morrison can deliver the budget, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten can give his reply speech and parliament can pass the money bills needed for government to operate.

* Once the governor-general issues writs for an election, the government is in caretaker mode. That means it can't make decisions without the acquiescence of the opposition.

* All 150 MPs and 76 senators will face the voters.

* Senators will be elected under new rules approved by parliament in March. Voters only need to number six boxes above the line or 12 below the line on their ballot paper.

* To win majority government either party needs to win 76 seats in the House of Representatives.

* The coalition goes into the election holding 90 lower house seats; Labor has 55.

* Labor needs to gain 21 seats on a uniform swing of 4.3 per cent from the 2103 election to win majority government. On paper, it has three of those seats (Dobell, Paterson and Barton) in the bag following a redistribution of NSW electoral boundaries, but loses the abolished seat of Hunter.

* The latest round of opinion polls has the parties 50-50.