Australia news LIVE: Cyclone Alfred throws election date into doubt; Trump delays tariffs on most imports from Mexico

Party machines were raring to go for an election called as soon as Sunday – for a polling date of April 12 – but Cyclone Alfred has put a hold on those plans.

Sources familiar with Albanese’s thinking said he was waiting to see how severe the storm was before determining whether to delay the election date until May.

It comes as the Albanese government receives welcome news in the form of the first positive poll result in months. Polling by YouGov found the federal government is ahead of the coalition, at 51 per cent to 49 per cent, in the two-party preferred vote while its primary vote has risen by three percentage points.

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Labor has not been ahead in the pollster’s data since July 2024. Last week, it was trailing the opposition, at 49 per cent to 51 per cent.

Anthony Albanese has widened his lead as preferred prime minister to six percentage points from two, with 45 per cent of voters now backing the Labor leader compared to 39 per cent for Coalition Leader Peter Dutton.

“That’s a big gap in a week – it’s beyond the margin of error,” YouGov’s director of public data Paul Smith said.

Labor’s $8.5 billion boost to Medicare, announced in late February, played a significant role in lifting the party’s primary vote to 31 per cent, although it still trails the coalition on 36 per cent.

With AAP