Wedding bells could chime for Gillard

Wedding bells could soon be chiming for Prime Minister Julia Gillard after her partner Tim Mathieson revealed he'd like to one day ask her to be his wife.

"I would like to ask her," the 54-year-old told News Ltd on Sunday.

Mr Mathieson, who has three children from a previous marriage, said he was in no hurry to pop the question but hopes the answer is 'yes', when he finally does.

"At the moment I'm really quite happy with our relationship the way it is," he said.

"Like Julia, I don't think we need to be cemented in any other way.

"We're just happy with the way we are, but I would hope if I did ask her that, of course, she would say yes. Absolutely."

He said he didn't think Ms Gillard would ever do the asking but insisted he wanted to be the one to propose.

While he was married in a church the first time, Mr Mathieson, an Anglican, said the pair probably wouldn't marry in a church, given the PM is an atheist.

An anonymous source close to Ms Gillard said rumours of an upcoming wedding were "probably right".

The source said the pair had already planned to marry before Ms Gillard, 49, became leader.

"It was going to happen just before she became prime minister but it was put off because of that," the source told Fairfax media, who speculate that Ms Gillard and her beau could walk down the aisle in the first weekend of June.

- AAP