Federal election 2025: Anthony Albanese bats away early election speculation

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Federal election 2025: Anthony Albanese bats away early election speculation

Anthony Albanese won’t be calling the federal election this weekend, amid rampant speculation on when Australians will head to the polls.

Conjecture about the election date has amplified in the 24 hours since the Reserve Bank on Tuesday delivered its first interest rate cut in more than four years.

But on Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister jovially brushed off suggestions he would call the election this weekend.

“I spoke to someone this morning, absolutely convinced that I’m driving to Government House this Sunday to call the election,” he told Jonesy and Amanda on Sydney Gold radio.

Camera IconAnthony Albanese toured the BlueScope Steelworks at Port Kembla last week. PMO via NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia

Mr Albanese batted away jokes from the radio hosts about April 12 being the election date too, adding “everyone’s trying to have a bid” on when the nation will cast their ballots.

The ongoing speculation about the election date should spark another conversation about four-year government terms, the Prime Minister said.

“I think what it is, is this is a real argument for four-year fixed terms,” he said.

“We’ve tried a couple of times hard to get referendums passed in this country, as we know, but we’ll have the elections due on May 17, or before.”

To call an election, the Prime Minister needs to visit the Governor-General in Canberra. This is generally done on a Sunday. From there, legally binding documents called writs authorise the election – this can take more than a week – and then the campaign ******* must run for at least 33 days but no more than 58 days.

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April 12 is shaping as the bookmakers favourite at the moment, but May 17 is the absolute deadline.

In the immediate wake of the much-needed interest rate cut, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said impending elections always brought an element of uncertainty among businesses.

However, the Treasurer said he was not seeing a heightened element of hesitation this time around.

Dr Chalmers put the election call firmly at Mr Albanese’s feet.

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Camera IconOpposition Leader Peter Dutton has also been out and about pressing the flesh in this pre-campaign *******. NewsWire / John Gass Credit: News Corp Australia

“I wouldn’t have thought he would have decided yet,” the Treasurer said on ABC radio Wednesday morning.

“He’d be weighing up all of the options.

“It’s got to be an election in the next three months. Of course, he’s thinking about it. Of course he’s weighing it up.”

The federal budget is scheduled to be released on March 25.

That date is an important touchstone for the election. If the election date has been set, parliament dissolved and politicians are in campaign mode, the current government will not release a March 25 budget.

But again on Wednesday, the Treasurer said his government was “certainly preparing” to hand down a federal budget on March 25.

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