By announcing Bill Shorten’s departure from politics, Prime Minister Antony Albanese has inadvertently hinted that he does not want to hold an election this year at all.
Albo said he has asked Shorten to stay on as minister until February, when Shorten will take up his new job as vice-chancellor at the University of Canberra.
But that does not mean that the elections will also take place in February or March.
By-elections need not be held within a reasonable time after the calling of general elections.
Albo did not want Shorten to go immediately, because that would mean a date for a by-election would have to be set before the Prime Minister called the election.
By announcing Bill Shorten’s departure from politics, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has inadvertently hinted that he has completely closed the door on elections this year
By pushing Shorten to continue into the new year, Albo has avoided that scenario.
Even if he postpones the election until after February or March, the deadline is May and that is close enough for the Speaker of the House of Representatives not to set a date for a by-election in Shorten’s constituency before the general election.
But Albo, who as leader of the Labour Party is now almost begging his predecessor not to step down, is showing that elections are not possible this side of the new year.
