Labor dumps April election plans, prepares March budget amid cyclone threat

Phillip Coorey, Jennifer Hewett, Tom McIlroy and Andrew Tillett

Updated Mar 7, 2025 – 6.36pm, first published at 3.01pm

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The Albanese government has dumped plans for an April 12 election due to Cyclone Alfred, and will resort to the back-up strategy of handing down a federal budget on March 25 before calling an election for May 3 at the earliest.

The decision was made at a meeting between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other members of his leadership group on Friday, as the cyclone began to batter south-east Queensland and northern NSW.

Phillip Coorey is the political editor based in Canberra. He is a two-time winner of the Paul Lyneham award for press gallery excellence.

Jennifer Hewett is the national affairs columnist. She writes a daily column on politics, business and the economy.

Tom McIlroy is the Financial Review’s Canberra bureau chief based in the press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously the AFR’s political correspondent.

Andrew Tillett writes on politics, foreign affairs, defence and security from the Canberra press gallery.