Anthony Albanese will officially call a federal election on Friday morning for May 3, Daily Mail Australia understands.
The Prime Minister is due to travel to Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s home in Canberra on Friday morning to ask her to dissolve parliament, Labor insiders have said, but no plan has been confirmed.
It gives the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton five weeks to win over voters.
The news that Mr Albanese will call the election on Friday distracted attention away from Mr Dutton as he handed down his Budget reply speech on Thursday night.
While an election announcement is yet to be made, Mr Albanese took to social media on Thursday night with a ‘showreel’ of important moments from his term as PM.
‘I want to build an Australia where no one is held back and no one is left behind,’ he captioned the clip.
‘As Prime Minister, I’ve been working every day to make that a reality. And I’ll keep fighting for you.’
Speculation has been rife over when the official announcement would come, further enflamed after Mr Albanese’s office pulled the trigger too soon.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) is due to fire the starting gun for the five week federal election race on Friday
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet sent out an official social media post earlier on Thursday claiming the government was now in ‘caretaker’ mode.
That only happens after the election has been called – and the PM is still 24 hours away from confirming the date.
The post on X was swiftly deleted after the blunder was spotted.
First Assistant Secretary Andrew Walter later apologised for the mistake.
‘Obviously this is an error and we apologise for that,’ he said.
‘It was up for a period of four minutes, I became aware of it approximately nine minutes ago and my corporate colleagues are addressing how this occurred.
‘I can assure you we’re not in caretaker.’
During media appearances on Thursday, the Prime Minister remained vague on the detail.
The news of the expected election date has distracted from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton (pictured) who is preparing to deliver his Budget reply speech on Thursday night
‘It’ll be called pretty imminently, I can assure you of that,’ Mr Albanese told Triple M Hobart.
‘I’m not calling it today, but I will call it soon. I think that Australians want to get on with it.’
Mr Albanese said his colleagues also want to get into the campaign after the Coalition announced they voted against government tax cuts and that they were going to repeal it.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister was due to call an election for April 12, but that plan was derailed by Cyclone Alfred.
With pre-polling and postal voting now a major part of elections, some Aussies will be able to vote in just over two weeks from now.
The Coalition has been on par or ahead of Labor in polling for much of the last year, though its lead has started to narrow.
That, and the fact that it’s almost 100 years since an Australian government was defeated after one term in power, has made Labor the bookies’ favourites to win.
A senior Labor cabinet minister told Nine newspapers that Mr Albanese reckoned the government is looking good to retain power.
Aussie voters will go to the polls on Saturday May 3
‘If we are on 50-50 at the start of the campaign, that’s potentially an election-winning (majority) for a government,’ Mr Albanese reportedly said.
‘We think there is a chance the wheels will fall off completely for them,’ the source said.
In his Budget reply speech, Mr Dutton announced a major cost of living relief measure for millions of Australians by halving fuel taxes for anyone who drives a motor vehicle.
‘The Coalition is committed to supporting families and businesses and alleviating the cost of living pressure that everyone, right across the country, is feeling right now,’ Mr Dutton told Daily Mail Australia.
He will become Australia’s 32nd prime minister if the Coalition wins next month’s election.
