The government isn't talking about an early election and neither is it considering bringing forward the budget, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says.
Senator Cormann said the budget was scheduled for May 10 and that was the date he and Treasurer Scott Morrison were working towards.
"We're not talking about an early election. We are expecting the election to take place in the ordinary course of events in the latter part of the year, as the prime minister has indicated, in August, September, October," he told ABC television.
There's speculation the government is considering calling a double dissolution election for July 2. That would be easier to do if the government brought forward the budget by a week.
Senator Cormann puts this all down to standard pre-election media speculation.
"It was the same in 2013, it was the same in 2010, it was the same in 2007. It's the same this year," he said.
He says the government's priority when the parliament sits for the last three days - before the scheduled May 10 release of the budget - is for the passage of Senate voting reforms.
"At the earliest opportunity when we come back in May we will be putting the Australian Building and Construction Commission legislation back to the Senate," he told Sky News on Sunday.
