Three reasons for Albo to go early
There are compelling reasons for Anthony Albanese to land on a historically early election, but some of his senior cabinet colleagues disagree.
For months, Anthony Albanese has been wanting to hold the election before March, which would be a first in Australian political history. The prime minister is still strongly considering calling the election before Australia Day for a vote in late February or early March.
There are three primary reasons for this.
First, Albanese does not want to have another budget amid a worsening fiscal situation that Deloitte Access Economics has warned will be the most severe deterioration in the nation’s bottom line outside of the Covid pandemic.
Second, the Reserve Bank is looking increasingly less likely to cut the cash rate before the election, even if Albanese held on until the last possible date of 17 May.
And lastly, polling since the beginning of last year has shown a gradual decline in support for Labor and a shift towards the Coalition. The latest Freshwater poll and Newspoll each had the Coalition ahead 51-49, but Labor would still hold on in minority government if these results were reflected uniformly across the country.
