Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated his preference for four-year federal terms as he hinted Australians would not be heading back to the polls this year.
In his first press conference for the year on Wednesday, Mr Albanese was quizzed about whether he would pull the election trigger at some stage this year.
Mr Albanese, who came to power in May 2022, indicated he was seeking to go the full three years, although he believes that is still not long enough between elections.
“The federal election is due in May 2025. I think that our terms are too short with just three years,” the Prime Minister told reporters in Sydney.
“There’s been a couple of attempts to fix that in the past and it’s very difficult to change.”
Mr Albanese said it was “unfortunate” four-year terms have not been implemented at a federal level despite the states and territories now all having the fixed term period.
Under the constitution, elections for the House of Representatives need to be held every three years but the prime minister has the power to choose the date of the poll at any time within that period.
As well as the Australian states and territories having four-year terms, the United States elects its president every four years, while in the United Kingdom general elections have mostly been held five years apart.
“Our long-term policy, and we’ve put it to the Australian people, is for four-year terms, but I don’t anticipate that happening any time soon and I think that’s unfortunate,” Mr Albanese said.
“Every single state has four years. If you go around the world, there are more elections, democratic elections, this year than at any time in global history. That’s a good thing.
“Some of those are very important. In India, in a few months time, in Indonesia, in February, as well as, of course, the focus will be on the United States at the end of the year.
“The European Parliament elections… will take place in the middle of the year. The elections in the United Kingdom… even though they have five-year terms, they’re likely to be held this year, rather than next.”
Mr Albanese said Labor’s focus for 2024 was on “governing during the year”, with cost of living relief being the government’s priority.
“I’m very positive as we enter the new year,” he said.
“Our priority will be to provide cost of living relief whilst taking pressure off inflation.
“I’ve asked treasury and finance to come up with further propositions that we’ll consider in the lead-up to the May budget this year, following the MYEFO that we released in December.”
(SKY NEWS)
