Early election: MP Don Farrell says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should be taken at his word on ‘full term’

Special Minister of State Don Farrell says there will be no early election, while a former Bill Shorten chief of staff has rounded on Anthony Albanese for prolonging the public’s pain.

The comments from Mr Farrell, one of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s closest cabinet allies, come amid nightmare polling for the Government, showing it is on course to lose its majority, with 57 per of voters surveyed by RedBridge unable to name one thing the Labor Government has done for them since winning power in 2022.

Speaking to The Nightly, Senator Farrell who is also the Trade and Tourism Minister and is ranked as one of the most powerful figures in Cabinet and the country, said the Prime Minister should be taken at his at his word.

“The Prime Minister’s made it very clear, we’re going to go full term so that’s next year,” he said.

“So I don’t believe there’ll be an election in Australia this year.

“And if the Prime Minister says it will be next year then that’s when it will be.”

Labor has kept open the option of firing the election trigger earlier than next year but with Treasurer Jim Chalmers unable to bring down inflation, the government is on the back foot heading into the election cycle.

The prospect of Mr Albanese presiding over a hung parliament is believed to have contributed to former leader and Cabinet Minister Bill Shorten deciding to retire and seek a career in academia instead.

Labor is now hoping to claw back support over the summer and hope that inflation abates and voters can hope for an interest rate cut, as is already the case for homeowners in the UK, New Zealand and likely soon in the United States.

The apolitical RedBridge firm asked more than 2000 voters if they could name something that the Labor government, led by the Prime Minister had done to make their life better in any way.

A whopping 57 per cent said no and a further 19 per cent said they were unsure, meaning just 24 per cent agreed that Labor had improved their lives in some way.

This is fewer than the 33 per cent primary vote for Labor that the same poll registered, compared to 38 per cent for the Liberal party.

Further, 32 per cent of the voters surveyed who said they were voting for Labor said they could not name a single thing Mr Albanese and his government had done to improve their lives, underlining the deep discontent amongst Labor supporters with the current government.

Meanwhile Cameron Milner, a former Queensland state secretary who served as chief of staff to Mr Shorten, said the PM was only prolonging voters’ pain.

“Albo has shot himself in the right foot and wants to go full term to ensure he hits the left one as well before polling day,” Mr Milner said.

“The last election was all about Albo being a small target, it’s a remarkable feat that this election will be a big target election … only Albo will be the target this time.

He said it was possible Labor could lose altogether and not just fall into minority.

“A full term just means long-suffering voters will have to wait a little longer on their verandas with their baseball bats,” he said.

RedBridge Director and former Labor party strategist in Victoria, Kos Samaras said cost-of-living would continue to be Labor’s biggest electoral headache.

“In the middle of an affordability crisis, one that seems to have no horizon, the Labor government will need to not get trapped talking about this issue as it reminds voters about what choices they have made during their first term and these choices are not always about helping households stock the pantry,” he said.

Separately, an MRP poll, also conducted by RedBridge found the Coalition was poised to win back the seats of Goldstein and Curtin which were won by Teals at the last election, and that Labor was headed for a minority government, after just one term in office.

Technically, Mr Albanese can call an election any day now but he has until May 24 to hold the poll.

ABC election analyst Antony Green has said that it is unlikely any election will be held before Western Australia goes to the polls in February.

“No Australian government wanting to win re-election interrupts summer holidays,” he said in a blog post that speculated the government would go full term.

“More likely the Federal government will wait until after the WA election.

“It has marginal seats it needs to hold and a redistribution to deal with.

“Prospects will be better after the state election than before.”