Budget night is normally sacrosanct in the parliamentary calendar - but not any more, apparently.
At a time of year when speculation is usually rife about the contents of the May budget, talk has switched to the actual date it might now be delivered.
Treasurer Scott Morrison is scheduled to hand down his first budget on May 10.
But for Malcolm Turnbull to call a July 2 double dissolution election, he would have to call it the day after on May 11, raising suggestions that he might want to bring the timing of the budget forward by a week.
And the prime minister wasn't about to dash such speculation.
Quizzed on the issue in Adelaide on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull told reporters: "The budget will be delivered in May."
Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer appeared to leave the door open for an early budget.
"These are all matters to be considered, but we are looking at the ordinary timetable in relation to the budget," Ms O'Dwyer told ABC radio on Tuesday.
But Employment Minister Michaelia Cash played it straight.
"From my perspective, budget night is budget night and that is May 10," she told the National Press Club.
Senator Cash believes the government already has a trigger for a double dissolution with its registered organisations bill that has twice failed to pass the Senate, but it still wants to get its Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation passed.
Constitutional lawyer George Williams says if the government is going down the path of a double dissolution it will need to put steps in place to make sure it can properly deliberate on the budget to allow for supply.
"A week is long enough if you've got the support of the people in the Senate to get it through," he told ABC television.
Shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh said if such a scenario was to occur, it would be up to Labor's parliamentary team to decide how it would be handled.
"But we're pretty clear there is only one party in Australian politics that's blocked supply and that's the Liberal Party, not the Labor Party," Dr Leigh told ABC television, referring to the constitutional crisis when Gough Whitlam was removed as sitting Labor prime minister in 1975.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described it as another stunt by Mr Turnbull.
"I just wish Malcolm Turnbull would work as hard for Australians as he works for his own self-interest," he told reporters in Melbourne.
Senior Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese said changing the budget date would be very difficult because Treasury and Finance have their systems locked in for the second Tuesday in May.
Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas is due to deliver his state budget on May 3 - the possible revised date for the federal budget.
Mr Pallas told AAP on Tuesday he would not be concerned if there was a date clash.
"Like most Victorians, we are more concerned about the substance of the federal budget than the timing," Mr Pallas said.
"It is time the federal government filled the funding gap on schools and hospitals that they created and gave Victorians their fair share on infrastructure funding."
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