Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is poised to call the country's federal election as early as Friday, news.com.au reports. Photo / Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is poised to call the country's federal election as early as Friday, news.com.au reports. Photo / Getty Images
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would call a federal election “imminently”.
Greens Senator David Shoebridge raised concerns about Elon Musk using X to influence far-right politics in Australia.
Home Affairs Minister Murray Watt acknowledged concerns about foreign interference but confirmed no review of X has been conducted.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday he would call a general election “imminently”, with local media reporting the poll would be held on May 3.
Albanese’s left-leaning Labor government is nearing the end of its three-year term and must hold an election by May 17 at the latest.
Recentpolls show the government is neck-and-neck with its conservative rivals, who were turfed out in 2022 after almost a decade in power.
As speculation mounted on Thursday, Albanese said he was preparing to call the election “soon”.
“It will be called pretty imminently,” he told a local radio station.
Multiple media outlets - including national broadcaster ABC - reported Albanese would announce the official start of campaigning on Friday, setting an election date of May 3.
Earlier, news.com.au reported Albenese would make the move in an attempt to overshadow Peter Dutton’s budget speech, where the leader of the opposition is expected to announce a cut in fuel taxes,
The federal Government has been grilled over fears tech billionaire Elon Musk might use his platform X, formerly Twitter, to “agitate for far-right politics in Australia”.
Greens senator David Shoebridge aired fears about the Tesla CEO’s influence in the upcoming election following his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Germany.
Musk has been vocal in his support for the AfD, despite the party being monitored over suspicions of extremism in some German states.
“Elon Musk is actively using his platform X to exercise foreign interference in the German election campaign,” Shoebridge told Home Affairs Minister Murray Watt.
“And, we’re seeing it now in Ireland (and) we’ve seen it being aggressively used in relation to the United States.”
He went on to add: “We’re about to, quite imminently, go into an election.
Musk is widely seen as being instrumental in US President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election.
“There is a real risk that Elon Musk will use his platform to agitate for far right politics in Australia in the election, active risk of foreign interference.
“Don’t you think that that should be under review,” he asked, referencing policies about use of X.
Watt confirmed there had not been a review or a referral to the regulator of X, formerly Twitter, which Musk purchased in October 2022 for almost US$70 billion.
Asked if he was “disturbed” about foreign interference on X, Watt said the Government was “concerned about the risk of foreign interference from a range of sources”.
“I’m not going to sort of personalise it, or refer to particular cases, but clearly this is a big challenge that Australia faces,” Watt said.
“All attempts at foreign interference are things we need to take seriously, and we always need to ensure that our policy framework is current and strong to deal with those.
“I’m sure the officials will give that consideration.”
Rumours mounted in multiple Senate estimate committees on Thursday that Albanese might call the election as soon as Friday.
Domestically, Musk has regularly run up against the Australian Government and its powerful eSafety commission, namely calls for content to be removed.
Musk lashed out at eSafety Commissioner Inman Grant last year over her attempt to force X to take down a video of an alleged stabbing at a Sydney church.
The move was later abandoned, with Musk separately attacking the Albanese Government as “fascists” in relation to the Government’s misinformation bill.
The world’s richest man is widely seen as being instrumental in US President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election, and is the unofficial head of the Doge department.
