'Chill out' on election date: Albanese

Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says people speculating about the election date should just chill out.

'Chill out' on election date: Albanese

Deputy PM Anthony Albanese (R) says people speculating about the election date should chill out.

Australia won't be going to the polls on August 24, Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

He says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has no plans to visit the governor-general on Monday, making an August 24 election impossible.

That leaves the following Saturday, August 31, as the earliest possible poll date and the firm favourite.

Mr Rudd will brief the caucus on Monday on plans for the election, with a spokesman telling AAP he is expected to warn his colleagues of a "tough campaign" against Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

But Mr Albanese says people should just "chill out" on the election date speculation.

"I can assure you that the prime minister's not planning to visit Yarralumla today," he told ABC TV on Monday.

Opposition frontbencher Christopher Pyne expects an announcement is imminent.

"I think they'll go to the polls as soon as possible because the longer Kevin Rudd remains in office the more obvious it will become that he's all talk and no action and you can't rely on his word," he told Sky News.


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Source: AAP



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