THE major parties are ill-prepared for a pre-Christmas election, but would be ready to go in the new year.
Following Kevin Rudd's veiled threat on Wednesday to consider an early election, should budget measures or other key pieces of legislation be blocked by the Senate, strategists from both sides said they would not be ready for some months yet.
The Prime Minister stressed yesterday that it was important that the budget be passed in its entirety.
"Nobody in this country wants to see a double dissolution election.
"It is not in the interests of the economy for that to occur – it is not in the interests of the country for that to occur.
"I don't want that to occur," Mr Rudd said.
"But at the end of the day, let us be very clear about the fact that the Government does not control the numbers in the Senate."
The Opposition Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, said an early election would be an admission of fear by the Government.
"Mr Rudd is running scared to an early election because he knows that before too long the full consequences of his mismanagement will become apparent to every Australian," he said.
A senior Labor official said yesterday the party had made no preparations for an early poll and was still working towards later next year, when the election is scheduled.
The soonest any of the major parties could envisage a poll would be in March.
Rather than a statement of intent, Mr Rudd's threat was being perceived as an effort to put the blowtorch on Mr Turnbull and to highlight the Coalition's penchant for blocking Government measures.
"He wants it through," the official said of Mr Rudd's attitude towards the budget.
Despite being similarly ill-prepared, the Liberals are not taking Mr Rudd's threat lightly.
One senior official said it was to be expected that the Prime Minister would want all options open, especially in a volatile climate.
"I assume that Labor is looking to create a trigger. There's a difference between creating a trigger and using it," he said.
To call a double dissolution election, the Government needs the Senate to reject the same piece of legislation twice, three months apart.
By June, it will have the alcopops tax rise as a trigger.
The contentious emissions trading scheme, the legislation for which was introduced yesterday, will not become available as a trigger until at least mid-September.
Bills to reform electoral donations and to introduce compulsory student fees for universities are likely to be available by the end of this year.
In NSW and Queensland, both parties have put their preselections on hold until the completion of a redistribution of federal electorates in each state. That will not occur until October at the earliest.
The independent senator Nick Xenophon, who would most likely benefit from a double dissolution, said he would oppose an early poll.
"As much as I love election campaigns, I'm not sure the feeling is shared by the Australian people," he said.
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