Voters in five federal seats will vote in by-elections on July 28 amid the dual citizenship crisis.
Labor objected to the proposed date - which avoids school holidays - because it lands on one of the days of its national conference.
Speaker Tony Smith, who is responsible for issuing writs for elections, told parliament on Thursday he had consulted with the Australian Electoral Commission on preferred dates for the by-elections in Braddon, Fremantle, Longman, Mayo, Perth and Fremantle.
He said as a matter of principle election writs were issued "as soon as electorally practicable" to ensure seats do not go without MPs for too long.
However, he said the fact there were five by-elections, four of which were triggered by citizenship issues, meant there was a "unique set of circumstances".
Government awaits sign-off
The government is awaiting the governor-general to sign off on a new regulation, which has bipartisan support, to ensure all candidates must publicly declare they are not dual citizens.
The sign-off is expected on May 29, with the regulations expected to take two weeks for the AEC to implement.
There was also a question of school holidays scheduled for July.
"I consider it is prudent in the current circumstances that I follow (the AEC's) advice and allow time to the changes related to section 44 (of the constitution) to be implemented," Mr Smith said.
"I, therefore, propose to accept the commission's recommendation for the optimal date of July 28."
He said he would consult with the AEC about the date to issue the writs "and the relative dates of the by-elections" and advise the parliament when the dates have been settled.
The new members won't be able to take up their seats until August 13 at the earliest.
Labor's fury
But deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek tweeted that it's "been deliberately designed to disadvantage the Labor Party".
"This is a disgraceful delay + a sneaky tactic from Malcolm Turnbull. He is just trying to buy time so he can dump his toxic $80 billion tax handout to big business before the by-elections," she tweeted.
While Labor Senate leader Penny Wong said in Senate estimates that the timeline was "demonstrably" different to previous by-elections.
Speaking to Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers, she said "this looks partisan".
Mr Rogers told estimates that "it's not my role to set the date of the election, my role is to advise the speaker when asked and that's exactly what I've done".
Share
