Five Prime Ministers: a crisis, a political aberration or the new normal?

On 26 June 2013, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd reclaimed the leadership of the ALP and prime ministership from Prime Minister Julia Gillard after a protracted destabilisation process that had lasted just over three years. Rudd claimed he was the only one who could defeat then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, yet as it turned out on 7 September 2013, the ALP was comprehensively defeated and Tony Abbott became the new Prime Minister. However, by 9 February 2015, Prime Minister Abbott had endured a “near death experience” and was given six months by his party to become more consultative or risk a challenge to his leadership. On 14 September 2015, after an uneventful day in Question Time, that challenge came, and by late evening Malcolm Turnbull was the new Prime Minister of Australia. This paper provides a chronology of what happened in each case and why. Moreover, it examines the broad significance of the change in prime ministerships. Does it say something about the changing nature of the electorate or something about how politics is now conducted? What is the overall significance for contemporary Australian politics and the prime ministership in particular?