Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The first half of next year. There's nothing new there. What I would also say when it comes to the timing of elections is that we of course all know that Mr Shorten has been predicting for some time to his party room or his caucus that an election is imminent. Perhaps that helps him with keeping his own support locked away. I remember that he was telling people last year that there would be an election before Christmas, which is, of course, why he didn't let the Australian people know that there were people on his side of the chamber that had problems with their citizenship and section 44. Let me tell you: the election will be at the normal time, as much as Mr Shorten might have wishful thinking of getting to the election sooner rather than later.