The next federal election isn't scheduled until late next year but there's now speculation that the government is considering a double dissolution not long after the budget on May 12.
Well-regarded News Corp Australia columnist Laurie Oakes said the budget would likely focus on good news including a new family package, unlike the 2014 budget with its language of debt and deficit and unpopular austerity measures.
He wrote that there were growing signs Prime Minister Tony Abbott was itching to hit Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, something which could not be considered earlier when the government trailed Labor in the polls.
A double dissolution, with its reduced Senate quota, could place more minor party representatives into an already obstructive Senate but that could be avoided through changes to the Senate voting system.
Mr Oakes said the biggest pointer to an early election would be a post-budget bounce in the polls, followed by introduction of legislation to reform Senate voting.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann wasn't biting.
He said there was work to do to put Australia on a stronger foundation for the future and that was what he and the government were focused on.
"Let me unequivocally reassure you that our intention is to serve our full term," he told Sky News.
Opposition frontbencher Stephen Jones said Labor was ready.
"Whenever the government decides to call an election and if Tony Abbott is so nervous about his back bench that he thinks he has to rush to the polls immediately after the budget, we will be ready to meet that challenge," he told Sky.
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