Paul Keating’s recent savage criticism of the Albanese government over the AUKUS deal is a reminder that former leaders have not always publicly disparaged their own parties.
Bob Hawke and Anthony Albanese at the launch of the biography Albanese: Telling It Straight, Parliament House, Canberra, September 2016.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
Australia’s prime ministers in recent years have not stayed in office for long. If the Australian public can be patient, Albanese’s style may offer greater longevity.
Public Domain except Hawke, Keating and Howard (Commonwealth of Australia CC-BY-SA)
In a survey sure to provoke debate, 66 political scientists and historians ranked Australia’s second world war prime minister John Curtin as the finest leader we’ve had.
Facing protests by students and academics over its Liberal Party links and generous funding by the Morrison government, the centre’s most important test will be whether it respects academic freedom.
Malcolm Turnbull was the latest prime minister to be ousted before the end of his term in August, 2018.
AAP/Sam Mooy
With John Howard in 2004-7 the last prime minister to serve a full term, it may seem Australia has sunk into a long rein of political instability. But that is not necessarily the case.
Australian prime ministers have long been interested in the names they go by, and how others should address them. But will the “ordinary Joe” approach pay off for ScoMo and Bill?
Prime Minister Bob Hawke celebrates the final cabinet meeting in Old Parliament House, 1988.
National Archives of Australia
The Australian prime ministership has never been easy, but the most successful tenures have been those in which the person has matched the circumstances.