To the shock of most political observers in Australia, the Liberal-National Coalition was re-elected to a third term in office giving a mandate to Scott Morrison who ousted Malcolm Turnbull from power last August in a leadership spill. Polls had overwhelmingly favored Labor Party leader Bill Shorten to win. Shorten has now resigned his party's leadership. The Liberal-National win is being compared to both Brexit and the election of Donald Trump.
From where I sit, the surprise won't be Morrison's victory but rather if he can serve a full term in office. Not since John Howard, who was elected to four terms, has an Australian Prime Minister served out a full term. After being elected in 2007, the Labor government saw a back and forth power struggle between Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. However, the Liberal-National Coalition has had its share of chaos as well going from Tony Abbott to Turnbull to Morrison in the space of five years. If Morrison can serve out his full term he might very well have as long a tenure as Howard, the now departed Bob Hawke or, dare I say, Robert Menzies. But who can say that Morrison won't face the same fate of his four previous predecessors?
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