Anthony Albanese pulls April 12 election off the table as Cyclone Alfred looms

Anthony Albanese has ruled out an April 12 election that was widely expected to be called this weekend, with the Government focused on dealing with cyclone Alfred.

The change in election plans means Treasurer Jim Chalmers will hand down a Budget on March 25 as scheduled.

Three senior government sources told The West Australian the Prime Minister would not call the election this weekend.

Mr Albanese subsequently ruled it out publicly in an interview with ABC’s 7.30, with his focus on the cyclone’s landfall and any disaster recovery in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and northern NSW.

“I can clearly say that our 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’s always been our intention to serve a full term 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 timing of Easter and Anzac Day in late April means the poll will now most likely be held on May 3, 10 or 17.

If Mr Albanese sticks to the minimum five-week campaign period, the starter’s gun for each of these dates would be fired after the Budget that was pencilled in for March 25 when this year’s parliamentary calendar was released late last year.

The PM said it was his “clear intention” to release a Budget on that date, and “that work had all been done” to get it ready.

Dr Chalmers, who lives in Brisbane’s suburbs, said pushing back the election was the right call.

“Our focus is on millions of Australians in harm’s way in Queensland and northern NSW, not on the election. We’ll be ready to deliver our fourth responsible Budget on March 25,” he said.

The decade of deficits forecast in the mid-year economic update meant many political insiders thought holding a full Budget on the eve of an election wouldn’t give the Government the kind of springboard it would hope for.

However, the interest rate cut in February, lower inflation, and this week’s positive national accounts figures — showing an upturn in per capita GDP for the first time in two years — has given Labor more confidence that people will see the economy and cost-of-living pressures have turned the corner.

Iron ore prices remaining about $US100 per tonne, above Treasury’s typically conservative forecasts, has also helped prop up mining company tax receipts that flow into the Commonwealth’s coffers.

Every $US10 rise above the forecast average iron ore price generates an additional $400 million in annual tax receipts, so the Government could claim an extra $1.4 billion this financial year based on Friday’s price of $US101/t — although that on its own would not be enough to produce another surprise surplus.

Dr Chalmers told a podcast for the Labor-aligned John Curtin Research Centre this week he would relish an election campaign fought on the economy.

“It will be a battle of the ‘burbs, and that means it will be about the economy. I hope it is, I’m spoiling for a fight on the economy. Nothing would make me happier than if this election was contested on the economy,” he said.