Labor working overtime to keep Albanese Covid-free

Anthony Albanese has ramped up Covid-19 protocols in his office to ensure he doesn’t catch the virus during the election campaign.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese delivers his budget reply speech on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Anthony Albanese has ramped up Covid-19 protocols in his office to ensure he doesn’t catch the virus during the election campaign.

After manager of opposition business Tony Burke tested positive this week, the Opposition Leader’s staffers have increased precautions ahead of the May federal election. The Australian understands Mr Albanese’s team is testing daily, wearing masks and limiting group numbers to reduce the risk of the virus striking the Labor leader’s office before the election is called.

Scott Morrison was forced into seven days’ isolation after testing positive to Covid-19 on March 1. Both the Coalition and ALP will impose measures to avoid virus outbreaks on campaign buses and planes.

As Labor and Coalition staffers prepare their campaign headquarters in Sydney and Brisbane, senior government sources said the election was expected to be called mid-next week, setting up an election on either May 14 or May 21.

Mr Morrison on Thursday said he was focused on selling Tuesday’s budget in the coming days and would not visit Governor-General David Hurley to call an election over the weekend.

“We’re getting the budget through this week and we’ll be very enthusiastically letting Australians know about what’s in that budget, which is incredibly important,” Mr Morrison said.

“(The election will) be in the middle of May, which, you know, I’ve always been pretty upfront about this. When I go to see the Governor-General, everybody will know what that date is and it’s not too far away. I’ve always been upfront saying you get elected to do a three-year term and the election last time was on the 18th of May. So we’re getting close to that three-year period now.”