Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been criticised over his decision to postpone calling an election date because of Cyclone Alfred.
Mr Albanese said on Friday night during an appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 program that he would not announce the election date over the weekend while the government was focused on the cyclone.
Cyclone Alfred was downgraded to a tropical low weather system on Saturday morning, however, there is still a danger of widespread flooding through southeast Queensland and northeast NSW as rivers continue to rise.
Mr Albanese had been widely expected to call an election date of April 12, but since it is yet to be announced, it is now believed it will be held in May. The latest it can be held is May 17.
Aussies took to social media platform X to slam the delay, with many accusing Mr Albanese of using the storm to his political advantage.
‘Now that Cyclone Alfred has been downgraded to a tropical low, there should be no reason for Albo not to call the election,’ one said.
‘Call the election! No excuses! We want time to test the candidates. We want debates on the issues. We want change,’ another added.
‘Delaying the inevitable bloodbath Labor will be experience,’ a third wrote.
Anthony Albanese explained his government being focused on the cyclone response was the reason why Australians are none-the-wiser as to when the election will be held
Cyclone Alfred was downgraded to a tropical low weather system on Saturday morning, but there is still a threat of widespread flooding
‘Cyclone isn’t going to the last until April 12. Election must be held by May. Is a month really going to change much?’ another said.
Speculation had been mounting that Mr Albanese would visit the governor-general on the weekend or Monday to call the election.
‘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 said.
‘This is not a time for looking at politics.’
Because of the delay, the election will likely have to be held in May as other Saturdays later in April have been ruled out, due to the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends.
Mr Albanese did confirm the 2025/26 federal budget, that is 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.
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 polling data since July 2024.
Peter Dutton (pictured in Brisbane last month) and Anthony Albanese will soon hit the campaign trail for the federal election
Cyclone Alfred hung off the Queensland coast for days causing huge swells at the Gold Coast
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.
‘We don’t see big changes like this very often,’ YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith said.
Anthony Albanese has also widened his lead as preferred prime minister to six percentage points from two, with 45 per cent of voters backing the Labor leader compared to 39 per cent for Coalition Leader Peter Dutton.
‘That’s a big gap in a week – it’s beyond the margin of error.’
The number of respondents satisfied with the prime minister to 42 per cent, from 40 per cent, while those content with Mr Dutton’s performance fell to 43 per cent from 44 per cent.
The YouGov poll of 1504 people was conducted between February 28 and March 6 and has a margin of error of 3.4 per cent.
QueenslandAnthony Albanese
