The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been forced to apologise after mistakenly announcing the government has entered caretaker mode.
The embarassing social media incident was made on the official Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet account before the post was deleted.
“The government is now operating in accordance with caretaker conventions pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election,” the deleted post said.
It comes amid speculation that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will call the election as early as Friday.
The government only goes into caretaker mode after Mr Albanese calls the election, which has not yet happened.
“We are not in caretaker. This is clearly an error. We are trying to find out why it occurred and we apologise,” a spokesperson for PM&C said.
Mr Albanese confirmed the election would be called “imminently” on Thursday, prior to the mistaken post being uploaded.
The developments reaffirm speculation that he has been finalising plans to call the federal election on Friday.
Mr Albanese will have to visit Governor-General Sam Mostyn and formally ask her to dissolve the parliament before he announces the election.
He will then hold a press conference shortly after.
The Prime Minister will call the election for May 3, May 10 or May 17.
The latest Newspoll has the Coalition leading 51-49 over Labor on the two-party preferred vote.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton trails as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 47-38 as preferred leader.
