

Some of you asked earlier what impact this all has on the timing of an election...



ABC election analyst Antony Green has just written about this. The story will be online soon, but here are a couple of relevant bits for you now... given you asked.



Constitutions are written to deal with normal circumstances. They are not written to deal with Prime Ministers or Governors-General who go mad.



A federal election is a major logistical exercise for the Australian Electoral Commission, but also for political parties and candidates.



The idea that Malcolm Turnbull would call an election without talking to the Liberal Party's organisational wing is far-fetched. Calling an election without telling his own party would remove the government's most important advantage going into an election - knowledge of timing.



Talking to the party organisation about calling an election would tip off the Prime Minister's party opponents that an election was about to be called.



On Tuesday this week the Prime Minister defeated a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives, which confirms his role as chief adviser to the Governor-General.



But the office of the Governor-General monitors the media. Were Prime Minister Turnbull to call an election to avoid being deposed by his party, the Governor-General would be bound to follow that advice, but would be aware of what was occurring. The early election request might be delayed by obfuscation and prevarication from Yarralumla.