'Everyone owns the beach': Albanese weighs in on beach cabana debate

As thousands wind up their summer breaks, the shade tents - which retail for as much as $300 each - are ubiquitous at holiday spots along the coast and their popularity in recent years has sparked debate over beach etiquette.

Asked about the practice of setting up a beach cabana to reserve a spot on the sand, Mr Albanese said on Tuesday: "That's a breach of that principle, really, to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours."

"One of the great things about Australia, unlike some parts of the world, [where] you go and you've got to pay to go to the beach, here, everyone owns the beach," he told Nine's Today show.

"I didn't see that question coming, I've got to say ... but we'll wait and see the reaction. No doubt there'll be some horror at my declaration there."

The exchange followed an online debate over the use of the cabanas, with complaints ranging from solitary beachgoers taking up 5.8 square metres with the structures - sometimes only to lie next to them sunbathing.

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Asked by co-host Jayne Azzopardi if he would "share Kirribilli with me" and let her set up a cabana out the front of his official harbourside residence in Sydney, the Prime Minister replied: "There's no beach there ... And there certainly is not at The Lodge, where I spend most of my time."

No mention was made of the $4.3 million clifftop mansion that Mr Albanese bought in October with his partner Jodie Haydon.

The pair is yet to be spotted at their holiday home and the Albanese camp will no doubt be hoping voters have forgotten about the purchase, which sparked outraged headlines amid a cost-of-living and housing crisis.

Beach cabanas are not on the cards for the couple as Mr Albanese ramps up his pre-election campaign blitz in Queensland, pledging billions of dollars worth of federal infrastructure spending, before heading to the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

The Prime Minister continued to field questions about election timing amid speculation he may call it any day, refusing to confirm a date but telling Nine it would be held "sometime before May", potentially firming up the case for an April poll.

A date in mid-April would avoid a clash with the Western Australian state election, to be held on March 8, but would force residents in key seats to go to the polls again soon after.

An early March election would mean the March 25 federal budget would not go ahead, but Parliament could still sit in early February as scheduled.

The federal election is due by May 17 if a standard half-Senate election is held, meaning half of the state Senate seats and all four territory seats are up for election, which must happen at least every three years.

Mr Albanese said on Monday that he would like Australia's federal electoral system to have four-year fixed terms to enable governments to "[get] on with doing good policy, making a difference for people".