Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Finance Minster Katy Gallagher selling the 2025 Federal Budget. Photo: Anthony Albanese Instagram.
Here’s a thought. Why not call the election today, Thursday, the 27th of March?
Speculation is rife that the PM will do it before the weekend is over.
Sunday is often the day prime ministers take the short drive from the Lodge to Government House to get the process rolling.
However, this Friday (tomorrow) is firming up in some people’s calculations as the day Anthony Albanese might ask the Governor-General to dissolve the House of Representatives and issue the writs for an election.
But why wait even that long?
It would be a ballsy move to call the election today and would be decried by many as a dirty trick.
Yet it would start the campaign with Labor firmly on the front foot and leave the Coalition smarting for a few days while licking its wounds.
Here’s why: Peter Dutton wouldn’t get to give his budget reply speech tonight.
The Opposition Leader is all set to go, bursting to rip into the government’s budget and outline his ‘better way’ for the nation.
There’s nothing in that for the government.
Very late last night, the Senate voted to pass Labor’s tax cut bill emerging from the budget. It had passed in the House of Representatives earlier in the day.
The Coalition voted against the legislation in both houses.
What more does the government need?
Calling an election now would allow Labor to use the whole campaign to remind Australians that the very last thing Peter Dutton did before the parliamentary term ended was to try to deny them their tax cuts.
That’s a better scenario for Labor than the last thing from this parliament being a headland speech from the Opposition Leader.
Dutton has promised his speech will contain major cost-of-living relief measures and has already flagged a commitment to cut the fuel excise by 25 cents for a year to make filling up the car cheaper.
With one short drive, the Prime Minister could deny the Opposition Leader the opportunity to explain it any further in parliament.
It would be left to compete with all the other policy noise of an election campaign.
And, of course, there are the Budget Estimates.
They are starting this morning but could be brought to an abrupt end if the election is called now.
Yesterday (Wednesday), the Clerk of the Senate Richard Pye wrote to all government agencies saying he had been asked to inform them about how estimates would be affected if “the Prime Minister calls an election in coming days”.
Under the title “Effect of prorogation”, the letter (which Region has seen) tells the public service bosses that should the G-G prorogue the parliament during this scheduled estimates period, any hearings that had not already started would not take place.
“If hearings are underway when prorogation occurs, the committees conducting those hearings can continue during that day, subject to any decision of the committee to adjourn,” he wrote.
The Clerk goes on to outline that it is theoretically possible for legislation committees to separately resolve to hold estimates hearings after prorogation and that Questions on Notice are regarded as continuing and should still be answered.
“The ‘caretaker convention’ which applies to major decisions of government does not apply to matters of accountability to the Senate,” he wrote.
Late last night, the Senate passed 10 pieces of legislation, including the budget’s tax cut bill, mostly without Coalition support.
It’s unusual to introduce a bill from the budget and insist it be voted on the day after the budget is delivered.
But that’s what the Federal Government did and it got the outcome it wanted.
It allowed the Manager of Government Business in the Senate, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, to have a final blast across the chamber at the Opposition just before 11:30 pm.
“Tonight, they have opposed taking action on gender equality in the workplace. They have voted no to keeping the NBN in public ownership. They have voted no to fee-free TAFE – I don’t know who in the world could vote no for free training and help for people,” she said.
“They have voted no for tax cuts to every taxpayer.
“That is the combination, and it sums up the Peter Dutton approach this entire term. Say no to everything, stand in the way of progress, stand in the way of assistance for households.”
This all adds up to a government primed and ready for an election.
Labor has had its people in place for the campaign for weeks now (they were expecting to be in the middle of it already, but Cyclone Alfred changed that plan).
Peter Dutton has been goading the PM to call the election.
Why doesn’t Albo give him what he wants and call it today?
Such a drastic and unconventional (unfair even) move probably won’t happen.
But if it does, you heard it here first.
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