Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed he will not be calling the federal election over the weekend or on Monday in the midst of Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
It was widely expected the election would be called for April 12 so a pre-ballot budget could be avoided.
Mr Albanese was asked on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Friday night whether the cyclone had prompted him to “categorically” rule out calling an election on Sunday or Monday.
He confirmed he had no intention to distract from the pressing matter at hand, as millions battle hazardous conditions with Cyclone Alfred bearing down.
“I can clearly say that my focus is certainly not on votes, it’s on people and it’s on Australians at this difficult time and I won’t be doing anything to distract from that,” he said.
“It is our intention to serve full term, I’ve made that very clear … and certainly my sole focus is not calling an election, my sole focus is on the needs of Australians.
“That is my concern at this difficult time.”
The federal election must be held by May 17, and an election campaign is required to go for a minimum of 33 days.
This means the election would have to be called by close of business on Monday in order to be held on April 12.
The most likely next election date would be May 3 due to the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends.
The scheduled March 25 budget is still set to go ahead.
Mr Albanese said Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s arrival was not a time for focusing on politics, and pointed to the effective teamwork between the federal, Queensland and NSW governments as the storm nears.
“There’s no party politics involved, nor is there with any of the local governments involved as well,” he said.
“We’re working together in a seamless way and that is very important.”
It comes as South-East Queensland and northern NSW continue to be battered by destructive winds and heavy rain with the cyclone on the verge of landfall.
The storm was 70km northeast of the Gold Coast as of 8pm on Friday, moving at a speed of 7kmp/h.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Albanese seemingly contradicted the government’s own science agency as he made remarks about the impact of climate change on Australia’s weather events.
During a press conference on Friday morning, Mr Albanese claimed, “climate change is having an impact on our weather events”.
“The science tells us that there would be more frequent weather events, they would be more frequent, and they’d be more intense,” he said.
“Anyone who looks at the science knows that that is what is occurring.
However, the PM’s comments seemingly contradict a report by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which revealed a significant downward trend in the annual number of tropical cyclones in Australia.
It attributed a combination of both natural variability and longer-term climate change to the decrease in tropical cyclones.
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