Australian PM says interest rate cut will not impact general election timing

Canberra, Feb 19 (IANS/GURPUNEET SIDHU) A long-awaited decision by Australia’s central bank to cut interest rates will not influence the timing of the upcoming general election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.

Albanese on Tuesday night said that the call by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut rates will not affect the date he sets the election.

“This won’t have an impact on the timing of the election,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) radio.

The board of governors of the RBA on Tuesday announced a decision to lower the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.1 per cent — marking the first cut to the key interest rate since November 2020.

Speculation from local media has been mounting that a cut would prompt Albanese to call the election for April 5 or 12.

The election must be held by May 17 and, as prime minister, Albanese could at any moment visit the governor-general to dissolve parliament and formally initiate the process, Xinhua news agency reported.

A minimum of 33 days — and a maximum of 58 — must elapse between the governor-general directing the electoral commissioner to conduct an election and the election date.

An election in April would mean that Albanese’s governing Labor Party would not hand down the federal budget for 2025-26 as planned on March 25 because parliament would have already been dissolved.

The prime minister told ABC radio that the government has been “working hard” preparing the budget.

Speaking on Wednesday morning, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told ABC television that the government is still making decisions about cost-of-living relief measures that will be included in the budget.

Opinion polls have indicated that the election is set to be a tight contest between Labor, which has held power since 2022, and the opposition Coalition of the Liberal and National parties.

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