Opinion piece.
We have drifted to a more presidential style of politics where the public claim some sort of "ownership" of the office of PM, but structurally we remain a parliamentary system under which the prime minister is the person whom the party that controls the House of Representatives installs as leader.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced a new threshold to trigger a Liberal leadership change in government, requiring two-thirds of the party room vote to trigger a spill motion. (4 Dec 2018)
One possibility is to do as the ALP has done, and require a supermajority of the party room to spill the leadership. This (in theory) makes it much more difficult to change the leadership.
Australia is one of the easiest places in the world to depose a sitting prime minister compared to other countries with a Westminster system of government, political experts say.
Griffith University emeritus professor Patrick Weller said Australia is too trigger happy in replacing prime ministers, which has led to a revolving door of political leadership.
While many complain that too many leaders have come and gone in recent years, would we rather be stuck with a leader who is unfit for high office? (9 Nov 2018)
