In at least one sense, Scott Morrison is the most successful Australian prime minister in years.
He is the first to survive in office from one election to the next since 2007. That year, the government of Australia’s second-longest-serving Prime Minister John Howard was voted out after a reign of almost 12 years.
Between Howard and Morrison, there have been four prime ministers including Kevin Rudd who served twice during an extraordinary period of political instability in Australia.
Rudd’s second stint ended when voters ousted his center-left Australian Labor Party government in the 2013 election. The other three prime ministers were toppled by their own parties, which panicked amid poor opinion polling. So too was Rudd during his first stint that set the revolving door to the prime minister’s office spinning.
Morrison’s relative longevity can be explained in part by his conservative Liberal Party tightening the rules that enable them to activate their leader’s ejector seat.
READ ALSO:
