Prime Minister Scott Morrison set to ask Governor-General to call election today

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to head to Yarralumla in Canberra about 10.30am today to ask Governor-General David Hurley to name the election date.

Scott Morrison will call an election today as the Prime Minister makes a dramatic presidential-style pitch to the nation, claiming his government saved 40,000 lives during the pandemic despite battling “setbacks” and “imperfect information”.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has pitched a “better future where jobs are plentiful” to Australians while also spruiking Labor’s economic credentials, vowing to “get spending under control” to keep taxes low.

Mr Morrison will head to Yarralumla in Canberra about 10.30am to ask Governor-General David Hurley to fire the starting gun on an election for the lower house and half of the senate.
He will then hold a press conference to tell the Australian people.

Government insiders remained tight-lipped about whether the PM will send Australians to the polls on May 14 or May 21, which is the last day an election can be held to allow senate votes to be counted in time for senators to be sworn at the start of July.

Expect PM to visit the GG around 10:30 am before a press conference in Canberra. He will depart to campaign today on a VIP aircraft. Media contingent to follow on C-130 military aircraft for a few days until planes organised. @AlboMP will also be proved VIP aircraft to campaign. https://t.co/BxdgXCpmm6

— Samantha Maiden (@samanthamaiden) April 9, 2022

It has been speculated Mr Morrison, who is behind in the polls, is likely to ask for a longer campaign to give him the maximum time to turn things around.

At 4pm on Saturday, both main parties simultaneously released ads in which the two leaders addressed the cameras.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison talks about the challenges and opportunities in Australia in his election ad.

The PM’s piece — a slick 77 second-long ad reminiscent of US-style campaigns — featured close-up shots of his wedding ring and showed him in his office warning “we’re dealing with a world that has never been more unstable since the time of the Second World War”. “You always have setbacks, you always have imperfect information,” he said.

“I mean, things are tough, and they have been really tough. There’s drought, there’s floods, there’s fire, there’s pandemic, and there is now war.”

Mr Morrison reminded Australians the nation has one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates in the world – which he attributed to the government’s handling of the deadly virus.

“Forty thousand people are alive in Australia today because of the way we managed the pandemic,” he said. “Seven hundred thousand people still have jobs.”

Anthony Albanese, pictured with stall owner Katherina Fleck, at the Orange Grove Markets on Saturday. Picture: Monique Harmer

After a story about how he recently met apprentices who said they wanted to start their own businesses, the video finishes with Mr Morrison’s voice breaking slightly as he ends with “that’s why I love Australia”.

In contrast Mr Albanese’s piece was designed to introduce the Labor leader to Australians, showing a picture of him as a young man, and included a graph of increasing debt under the Coalition and a pitch that “Labor will get spending under control so we can keep taxes low”.

The two leaders have also written opinion pieces for today’s News Corp papers.

In his, Mr Morrison said the election would provide a clear choice, with real consequences for Australia.

“Our economic growth is one of the best in the developed world — faster and stronger than the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan,” he said.

“On almost any measure — fatality rates, vaccine rates, economic growth, jobs growth, or debt levels — Australia’s recovery is leading the world.”

But Mr Morrison warned that electing a Labor government would put this at risk because the opposition party had no economic plan.

“Mr Albanese has never held a financial portfolio. He’s never held a national security portfolio. He’s never delivered a Budget.”

In his piece, Mr Albanese said Australians lived in the greatest country in the world, but with a better government Australia could be even greater.

“We want a better future where jobs are plentiful and secure and where strong and prosperous businesses reap the rewards of their enterprise and create even more jobs,” he said.

“We want a better future where Australians can access the skills training they need to find good, secure jobs instead of being reliant on multiple and unreliable casual jobs to make ends meet.”

If Mr Morrison doesn’t call the election on Sunday the lower house sitting scheduled for this week will go ahead on Monday, a prospect Mr Albanese told reporters on Saturday was unlikely.

“I can’t see how a Prime Minister who really doesn’t like scrutiny will allow the parliament to come back on Monday in the form of the House of Representatives, and that’s what will have to happen,” he said, accusing Mr Morrison of playing “a bit of a game” over calling the poll.

Originally published as Prime Minister Scott Morrison set to ask Governor-General to call election today