longweekend58 wrote on Jun 25
th, 2015 at 6:11pm:
Abbott will not go for an election this early.
I agree, the poor opinion polling for the Coalition would stay Abbott's hand.
Quote:voters hate early elections and punish hem for it (just ask bob hawke in 1984).
The 1984 election was not as early as people seem to think. The previous election was a double dissolution election. This means the Senators' terms were backdated to July 1, 1982 and the next election had to be held by July 1, 1985 to keep the House and Senate elections in step.
Every double dissolution election is always followed by another early Senate election. It is a consequence of section 13 of the Constitution. It is customary for the House to go to the polls at the same time. An early election after a double dissolution is therefore standard operating procedure.
Hawke could have gone as late as June, 1985, but no later.
Quote:Abbott doesnt have that many votes to play with so he wont go early unless the polls take a massive swing to his side and that appear unlikely. I would tip an election early next year eg March and no earlier. it is only 6 months early so no real biggie from the voters. An early election at this time would probably lose him too many votes to win.
You're wrong here. Any election before August, 2015 would have to be a House-only election because the writs for a half-Senate election cannot be issued more than 12 months before the expiration of the Senate terms. We haven't had an early election that put the House and Senate out of step since 1963.