Federal Labor wants to know why the dates for five by-elections are yet to be decided.

Speaker Tony Smith is consulting with various parties on the timing, which cabinet minister Christopher Pyne says should take into account advice from the Australian Electoral Commission.

Mr Pyne on Saturday denied there had been an unnecessary delay.
But the opposition isn’t satisfied.

“I think Malcolm Turnbull, just like he’s running away from the public in Perth and Fremantle, is delaying these by-elections for reasons that he needs to explain,” Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese told ABC TV on Sunday.

“I can’t understand why these by-elections haven’t been called.”

The Liberal Party is not running candidates in the WA seats of Perth against Tim Hammond or in Fremantle against Josh Wilson.

But in the South Australian seat of Mayo, third-generation Liberal Georgina Downer, daughter of former foreign minister Alexander, is running against incumbent Rebekha Sharkie.

“We’re not terribly confident in Mayo of winning, but we’re having a crack there, unlike the Liberal Party which isn’t even giving it supporters someone to vote for in Perth and Fremantle,” Mr Albanese said.

Former Braddon MP Brett Whiteley will run against Labor’s Justine Keay in Tasmania.

But the Liberal Party still has not chosen a candidate to run against Labor’s Susan Lamb in Longman, with party preselectors due to meet on Tuesday.