Impact of Change in Prime Ministers in Australia

Running head: IMPACT OF CHANGE IN PRIME MINISTERS IN AUSTRALIA
IMPACT OF CHANGE IN PRIME MINISTERS IN AUSTRALIA
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1IMPACT OF CHANGE IN PRIME MINISTERS IN AUSTRALIA
The Prime Minister of Australia is the head of the government of Australia and the
nation. Since 2007, the Prime Minister is the member of the House of Representatives who
escorts the parliamentary party with the help of the larger part of the members in the house.
The Prime Minister is chosen by the votes of the members belonging to the government. The
Prime Minister does not have a fixed tenure in Australia unlike other countries. The current
Prime Minister of Australia is Scott Morrison. He is the 30th Prime Minister of Australia and
the leader of the Liberal party since 2018. This paper talks about the reason of the frequent
change of Prime Ministers in Australia and its influence on Australia and the public policies.
The members of the government vote the Prime Minister of Australia by casting
votes. When a political party tastes victory and has won the government, then the members of
the winning party chooses an internal member of their party to serve as the Prime Minister.
This nature of the parliamentary system is the major reason for the consistent change in the
Prime Ministers in Australia. Australia has seen six prime ministers in the matter of only ten
years. Australia follows the old British system that when a caucus member wants to
unappoint a person they can do it whenever they want and can appoint according to their
preference whenever they want. The process of replacing is very easy as making majority of
the lawmakers of the party signing a petition that later triggers the leadership ballot. Australia
has garnered international attention because of the odd habit of the government of banishing
prime ministers and appointing new ones that has affected the major and prominent parties
the right liberals and the Labor Party that are centrists.
The instability of the leadership of the Labor party shows its paucity moral cores. The
tendency of consistent coups started in June 2010. The last Labor Prime Ministers Julia
Gillard and Kevin Rudd had similar outlooks on policies. The feud between Julia Gillard and
Kevin Rudd for three years was not about creating a completely different party nor was it
about a different vision that they had for the betterment of Australia. Julia Gillard had

2IMPACT OF CHANGE IN PRIME MINISTERS IN AUSTRALIA
challenged Kevin Rudd to a leadership ballot as his immense popularity plunged due to the
missteps of series of programs and policies imposed by him. Rudd declines to contest for the
ballot. During this time, the Labor party becomes unsuccessful in winning the majority. Later
Gillard becomes unsuccessful due to making schemes for pollution levy. Gillard previously
during her elections had pledged that there would be no tax imposed during her tenure that
caused backlash and protests around Australia. She had contradicted to whatever she had
promised before the election. She introduced mining tax that generated very less revenue
(Curtin, 2015). The urge of maintaining a majority made Gillard associate with MP’s who
had faced sexual harassment and other back lashes, she also attacked the foreign workers who
were temporary with her policies. A poll documented that Gillard would lose the national
election and the Labor party had chances of winning only if Rudd was back in his position
paving way for Rudd to be the Prime Minister once again after three years (Wilson, 2014).
Rudd abandoned the emission of carbon trading scheme (Crowley, 2017). His style of
leadership became his enemies. If the negotiating position of the Labor party over their work
of legislation is to be looked, it was impossible to understand the position of Gillard and
Rudd on it.
Tony Abbott became the prime minister of Australia after Kevin Rudd. He served as
the Prime Minister from 2013 to 2015. Abbott elected as a Liberal leader lead the coalition to
win at the elections in 2013. The Liberals had different ideologies. They had a clear idea and
program in their mind. They want to build Australia in a different way according to how they
perceive and have an image in mind. Abbott established legislation into the parliament to
nullify the carbon tax and started Operation Sovereign Border the policy of the Coalition to
stop illegitimate maritime arrivals. South Korea, China, Japan signed free trade agreements
with Australia under the leadership of Abbott (Robertson, 2017). The Australian federal
budget introduced by the government under Abbott’s leadership. He faced backlash from his