JULIA Gillard is refusing to comment on the timing of the election amid speculation today she is poised to call the poll tomorrow for August 28.
The ABC has reported that Labor sources have said that Ms Gillard is expected to visit Governor-General Quentin Bryce in Canberra tomorrow morning.
But in Melbourne today the Prime Minister refused to answer any questions on the topic.
On her first public visit to her electorate of Lalor in Melbourne's western suburbs since becoming leader, Ms Gillard spent 10 minutes walking through the main street of Werribee talking to locals.
Asked repeatedly about speculation surrounding an election date, she replied that she was there to meet her constituents.
"I'm just having a wander through my own community,'' she said, after flying to Melbourne from Tasmania this morning.
The Prime Minister would have a window of opportunity to visit Ms Bryce tomorrow before she goes to Brisbane where she has a Sunday engagement.
Meanwhile, media companies are fielding calls from advertising sources linked with the Labor Party that appear to bolster the speculation.
A move to call an early election would in part be seen as an attempt to bury the furore over Ms Gillard's alleged reneging on a leadership deal with former prime minister Kevin Rudd, which emerged at the National Press Club yesterday.
If the election is called tomorrow for August 28, the campaign will run for a relatively long six weeks.
It will also mean that the Prime Minister will save her keenly awaited climate policy for the hustings.
The Australian Online understands that rumours of the imminent election were triggered by the Prime Minister's office confirming to media outlets that satellite vans should be staked outside the Governor-General's official residence, Yarralumla.
However, it is possible the direction given to media organisations over the positioning of the vans has no bearing on when the election will be called.
In Tasmania this morning the Prime Minister repeated her commitment to provide Mr Rudd with a senior position in her cabinet, despite an explosive report yesterday by journalist Laurie Oakes that she reneged on a deal with the former prime minister to allow him to stay in the top job.
``If the government is re-elected I will choose the ministry. I have said that Kevin Rudd will serve as a senior minister in a re-elected Gillard government. That is my commitment, I will honour that commitment,'' she said.
Mr Rudd, meanwhile, will return to Australia this weekend from the US, where he has been attending the Australian American leadership dialogue.
This afternoon he posted on Twitter: "Heading back to Oz tomorrow, looking forward to seeing [son] Marcus then getting back to campaigning in the electorate."
Ms Gillard was asked by Oakes at her National Press Club address on her economic agenda yesterday about whether she reneged on a pact made with Mr Rudd late on June 23, the night his leadership was challenged.
Under the deal - confirmed by the former leader's adviser Lachlan Harris - Mr Rudd would have handed the reins to Ms Gillard before an October election if polling revealed he was an impediment to the government's re-election.
Today in Melbourne she again refused to be drawn on the allegation.
Ms Gillard, a Welsh child migrant, was sworn in as Prime Minister on June 24 after an extraordinary 12 hours during which Mr Rudd confronted the sudden and spectacular evaporation of the support of his ministers, MPs and faction leaders after weeks of poor polls.
Mr Rudd did not contest the leadership ballot.
The ABC has reported that Labor sources have said that Ms Gillard is expected to visit Governor-General Quentin Bryce in Canberra tomorrow morning.
But in Melbourne today the Prime Minister refused to answer any questions on the topic.
On her first public visit to her electorate of Lalor in Melbourne's western suburbs since becoming leader, Ms Gillard spent 10 minutes walking through the main street of Werribee talking to locals.
Asked repeatedly about speculation surrounding an election date, she replied that she was there to meet her constituents.
"I'm just having a wander through my own community,'' she said, after flying to Melbourne from Tasmania this morning.
The Prime Minister would have a window of opportunity to visit Ms Bryce tomorrow before she goes to Brisbane where she has a Sunday engagement.
Meanwhile, media companies are fielding calls from advertising sources linked with the Labor Party that appear to bolster the speculation.
A move to call an early election would in part be seen as an attempt to bury the furore over Ms Gillard's alleged reneging on a leadership deal with former prime minister Kevin Rudd, which emerged at the National Press Club yesterday.
If the election is called tomorrow for August 28, the campaign will run for a relatively long six weeks.
It will also mean that the Prime Minister will save her keenly awaited climate policy for the hustings.
The Australian Online understands that rumours of the imminent election were triggered by the Prime Minister's office confirming to media outlets that satellite vans should be staked outside the Governor-General's official residence, Yarralumla.
However, it is possible the direction given to media organisations over the positioning of the vans has no bearing on when the election will be called.
In Tasmania this morning the Prime Minister repeated her commitment to provide Mr Rudd with a senior position in her cabinet, despite an explosive report yesterday by journalist Laurie Oakes that she reneged on a deal with the former prime minister to allow him to stay in the top job.
``If the government is re-elected I will choose the ministry. I have said that Kevin Rudd will serve as a senior minister in a re-elected Gillard government. That is my commitment, I will honour that commitment,'' she said.
Mr Rudd, meanwhile, will return to Australia this weekend from the US, where he has been attending the Australian American leadership dialogue.
This afternoon he posted on Twitter: "Heading back to Oz tomorrow, looking forward to seeing [son] Marcus then getting back to campaigning in the electorate."
Ms Gillard was asked by Oakes at her National Press Club address on her economic agenda yesterday about whether she reneged on a pact made with Mr Rudd late on June 23, the night his leadership was challenged.
Under the deal - confirmed by the former leader's adviser Lachlan Harris - Mr Rudd would have handed the reins to Ms Gillard before an October election if polling revealed he was an impediment to the government's re-election.
Today in Melbourne she again refused to be drawn on the allegation.
Ms Gillard, a Welsh child migrant, was sworn in as Prime Minister on June 24 after an extraordinary 12 hours during which Mr Rudd confronted the sudden and spectacular evaporation of the support of his ministers, MPs and faction leaders after weeks of poor polls.
Mr Rudd did not contest the leadership ballot.
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