Scott Morrison expected to call date of the election this weekend

The way has been cleared for Scott Morrison to declare the election date this weekend, following the High Court rejecting a last-ditch appeal on Liberal preselections.

Mystery remains over when Prime Minister Scott Morrison will call the election, but with the High Court rejecting a last-ditch appeal to ­reverse the PM’s captain’s picks for candidates in NSW seats, the way has been cleared for a move this weekend.

Government sources said Sunday was firming as the ­likely date for the firing of the starting gun on the federal election campaign, which will see voters head to the polls on May 14 or 21.

The Prime Minister spent Friday in Victoria, turning the sod on the new Hanwha Armoured Vehicle Centre of ­Excellence near Geelong and later travelling to the Labor-held marginal seat of McEwen on Melbourne’s outskirts, where he was photographed with a family who had recently bought a home.

Asked by reporters whether he would visit the Governor-General on Saturday or ­Sunday, Mr Morrison said: “You’ll know when I’m announcing it.”

He later told 3AW’s Tom Elliott: “It won’t be very long from now — you know, it’s coming up to three years in the middle of May since the last election and I’ve always said that, you know, that’s the time for the election.”

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are already on the campaign trail.

He said the poll would be “a choice between the Liberal Party and the Nationals, or Labor supported by the Greens”.

“They’re an unknown,” he said. “It’s a choice between what you know and what you don’t know.”

As the waiting game over the poll dragged into the weekend, an attempt by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese to have a crack at the PM over the delay didn’t come off as planned.

Speaking to reporters in Adelaide, Mr Albanese ­expressed his frustration at the wait.

But the Labor leader was confused about where the Governor-General lives.

“I have to say, I feel like putting in a phone call to the Prime Minister if he doesn’t know where the Governor-General lives and offer him a lift to The Lodge to call this election,” he said on Friday.

The Lodge is the Prime Minister’s residence, which Mr Albanese is hoping to ­occupy next month. The Governor-General’s official residence is Government House in Yarralumla.

Government sources said Saturday was expected to be a quiet day, raising speculation the PM will wait until Sunday to call the poll. Calling it on Sunday would give the announcement greater attention as ratings for television news are higher on that day than on Saturday evening, when more people are away from home.

Originally published as Scott Morrison expected to call date of the election this weekend