Malcolm Turnbull’s 1000 days at the helm

Malcolm Turnbull passes another milestone becoming the 17th of 26 PM’s to chalk up 1000 days in the job | LIST

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull passes his 1000-day milestone. Picture: AFP

Malcolm Turnbull has passed a prime ministerial milestone, chalking up 1000 days in the nation’s top job.

The Prime Minister reached the 1000-day mark yesterday — the 17th of 26 prime ministers to do so — passing the occasion without fanfare, reading cabinet briefs at home in Point Piper.

Mr Turnbull overtook Australia’s first prime minister, Sir Edmund Barton (997 days), on Friday. If he can hold out until September 19, which seems fairly likely, he will have risen to 14th on the list and delivered the most stable period of government since John Howard.

Julia Gillard made it to 1100 days, and Kevin Rudd to 1019 with two stints in office.

But while Mr Turnbull’s government looks like having relative longevity, the Prime Minister is yet to seal his legacy and faces an array of challenges, including a hostile Senate, an angry right flank, and a series of thorny policy issues.

 

Mr Turnbull’s leadership rival Tony Abbott, who he unseated in a 2015 partyroom challenge citing poor polling, no longer presents a real danger. His fate is more likely to be sealed by voters — Newspoll continues to show Labor in an election-winning position, despite Bill Shorten’s poor personal approval rating.

If Mr Turnbull can hold out until November 14, he will rise to 13th in the list, overtaking Liberal John Gorton, who replaced Harold Holt after his disappearance in 1967. To go any higher would require an election win. Next up the list is John Curtin, whose mark Mr Turnbull would pass on June 14, 2019. Should he win the upcoming election, Mr Turnbull would have a good chance of reaching the top 10, as he would have only to get to December 6 next year to overtake Paul Keating. To put Robert Menzies’ longevity in perspective, Mr Turnbull would have to last until February 27, 2034 — six months short of his 80th birthday — to reach the top spot.

Mr Turnbull has identified the delivery of one million jobs, a pledge initially made by Mr Abbott, as his proudest achievement. But his big ticket economic reform, the $36.5 billion business tax cuts, appear to be doomed after Pauline Hanson reneged on a deal to pass them in the Senate.

It’s also unclear whether his planned personal income tax cuts will pass. Reforming the national energy market would become a key achievement if the states and the parliament endorsed the plan.