Cyclone blows PM’s April 12 election plan off course

[Pelican Press 0]

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Cyclone blows PM’s April 12 election plan off course

The prime minister has scrapped plans to call an election for April 12, in the wake of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Speculation had been mounting that Anthony Albanese would visit the governor-general on Sunday or Monday to call the poll.

But with Tropical Cyclone Alfred bearing down on millions of people in southeast Queensland and northern NSW, he has now put the speculation to bed.

“I’ve no intention of doing anything that distracts from what we need to do, and what we need to do is to look after each other at this difficult time,” he told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Friday.

“This is not a time for looking at politics,” he said according to a video posted to the ABC website.

Mr Albanese also said the 2025/26 federal budget pencilled in for March 25 would go ahead.

“I have very clearly said … that we’d produce a budget on March 25 and that certainly is my clear intention, and it has been,” he said.

Other Saturdays later in April have been ruled out due to the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends.

An election must be held by May 17.

YouGov polling released on Friday showed the federal government is ahead of the coalition for the first time in eight months on a two-party basis, at 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

Labor hasn’t been ahead in the pollster’s data since July 2024.

Last week, it was trailing the opposition, on 49 per cent to 51 per cent.

The improvement has been linked to Labor’s recent announcement of a multi-billion dollar boost for Medicare and the prime minister’s support for Ukraine.

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