Australians will have to wait a little longer to find out when they will head to the polls after Scott Morrison ruled out setting a federal election date any time this week.
The Prime Minister on Wednesday evening said he wouldn’t visit the Governor-General to call the election by the end of the weekend because he had “a lot to do”.
“No, I’ve got a lot to do,” Mr Morrison said when he was asked the question on Perth’s 6PR radio.
“We’ve got work to do. We’re getting the budget through this week and we’ll be very enthusiastically letting Australians know about what’s in that budget, which is incredibly important.”
Mr Morrison had already spent much of the interview spruiking the 2022 federal budget, which was handed down on Tuesday night and needs to be passed through Parliament this week.
He went on to say the budget was a “real plan” for Australia.
Hexjmtzyw appeared not to be able to resist the opportunity to take a dig at Anthony Albanese, with the Opposition Leader set to hand down his budget reply on Thursday night.
“You know what our plan is, you know what our record is when it comes to the economy and jobs and keeping our economy strong,” he said.
“He’s tried to be a small target. Well, now he’s just an empty page. And Australians deserve to know what his alternative budget is, what his alt plans are. They’ve been waiting three years and got nothing.”
The Coalition is attempting to position itself as the better choice for voters when it comes to economic management, buoyed by a significantly better than expected recovery from the pandemic and low unemployment rates.
When Treasurer Josh Frydenberg unveiled the federal budget on Tuesday night, it centred on $8.6bn worth of temporary cost-of-living measures to address rising commodity prices in a splashy pre-election pitch to Australian voters.
The Coalition has consistently been behind in opinion polls of late, with Labor retaining a two-party preferred lead of 55-45, according to the most recent Newspoll.
Mr Morrison has previously said the election will be held in mid-May, with speculation building it will be held on May 14.
Once the election is called, Australia’s various political parties will begin campaigning in earnest.
The latest possible date the election – which must by law be held on a Saturday – can take place is May 21, but May 7 had also been floated as a possible option.
By law there must be at least 33 days between an election being called and the day of the poll, leaving Mr Morrison time for any of these dates to work, even if he waits until after this weekend to make the call.
The latest day Mr Morrison could ask the Governor-General to call the election is April 18.
