Anthony Albanese is moving aggressively to prepare the Labor Party for a federal election campaign starting in January, fielding two high-profile candidates for must-win seats in Tasmania.

The prime minister also downplayed the prospects of a clash with Western Australian Premier Roger Cook’s re-election bid.

In a blitz across Tasmania on Tuesday, Albanese announced Senator Anne Urquhart would resign from the federal upper house to contest the seat of Braddon, held by the Liberals with an 8 per cent margin.

At a separate press conference two hours later, he confirmed that former state Labor leader Rebecca White would contest in Lyons. Labor holds the seat, won in 2022 by outgoing MP Brian Mitchell, with a narrow margin of 0.3 per cent.

The flurry of pre-campaign announcements is fueling speculation that the government is increasingly reluctant to return to parliament after the summer recess, which would make the next two weeks the last session of this legislature.

An early election, which cannot be held much after May 17 for practical reasons, raises the prospect of a campaign concurrent with the Western Australian state election scheduled for March 8.

Prime Minister Cook told a business breakfast in Perth on Monday that he was seeking legal advice on whether it is possible to change the election date should Albanese trigger a dual campaign.

“We have to be prepared for any contingency,” Cook said according to The Australian.

Dutton calls on Albanese to ‘be open’ about election plans

Albanese told reporters in Tasmania that he had not spoken to Cook about the issue and said the election would be called “in April or sooner”.

“It is the media that seems to be obsessed with the date of the elections. I have read that the elections would be in August, September, November, December 7 (which is an option) they will probably already happen,” he said.

“The elections, as I said at all times, will be in 2025.”

Charging…

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said any decision by Albanese to hold an election in March or earlier would be at odds with his previous promises.

“If there is a secret discussion or agreement with the WA premier, I think the prime minister should be open about it because he has looked the Australian public in the eye before and said he would fulfill his mandate,” Dutton said.

“If the Prime Minister is proposing to hold a snap election that requires WA’s March date to be changed… he needs to explain why.”

Political experts on both sides say they are ready for an election at any time, but the next genuine window for Albanese to unleash a campaign opens shortly after Australia Day.

Factors that may influence your decision include the Reserve Bank of Australia’s first interest rate meeting on February 18 and subsequent one on April 1, the possibility of canceling the budget scheduled for March 28 and the timing of the Easter/Anzac Day school holidays.

Albanese promotes electoral reform

A five-week election campaign called in late January or early February means the federal election would be held simultaneously with Western Australia, where Labor is desperate to hold on to the seats it won in the 2022 election.

Waiting until after the state election could mean canceling the budget for the April 12 date.

In another sign that Labor is quickly clearing the ground to keep its options open, Albanese urged parliament to support reforms that would reduce the electoral influence of very wealthy people.

“We are interested in electoral reform because I believe that a system whereby an individual can spend more than $100 million, as we have seen in the last two elections, undermines democracy,” he said.

While the changes would not come into effect until the next election, Mr Albanese said Special Minister of State Don Farrell would “have more to say about it in the coming weeks”.

Critics of current electoral laws point to the enormous influence of figures such as Simon Holmes à Court, founder of Climate 200, a group that helps fund teal independents, and Queensland mining billionaire Clive Palmer.

Palmer spent almost $120 million on general campaigns during the 2022 federal election, resulting in the election of just one MP, Ralph Babet.

South Australia’s United Australia Party senator sparked widespread condemnation this week after posting inflammatory and derogatory insults aimed at people of colour, people with disabilities and the LGBT+ community on social media.

The Labor Party is eager to crack down on such funding, with national secretary Paul Erickson telling a parliamentary committee that the lack of limits has allowed “extremely high net worth individuals, groups and networks to distort the political conversation.” with levels of advertising that were previously inconceivable”.

“The pestilent quality of some of these campaigns is eroding confidence in our elections and the democratic system,” he said.