How to dump your prime minister – the Australian way
Whoever emerges as the next prime minister will become Australia’s sixth in less than a decade
No Australian prime minister in the past decade has lasted a full three-year term before being dumped by his or her own party.
It’s a new era of political instability that most Australians hate. Voters expect that they will get to judge their leaders at the ballot box. Many feel hoodwinked when they go to elections expecting one national leader, then later have another imposed upon them.
The tactic of swapping leaders in the hope of boosting governments’ standing in opinion polls as elections loom has left parties bitterly divided. Foreign governments are left wondering whether Australian leaders will be around long enough to fulfil bilateral agreements.
There are things to know about how these political processes work.
It’s all in the party
Australians often talk about voting for a political leader to become prime minister in the same way that Americans discuss electing a president. But it has become increasingly evident that the leaders of the major parties have been chosen by party lawmakers and have been replaced at the same lawmakers’ discretion.