Australia PM Morrison first to serve full term in 15 years

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — In at least one sense, Scott Morrison is the most successful Australian prime minister in years. He is the first to survive in office from one election to the next since 2007. That year, the government of Australia’s second-longest serving Prime Minister John Howard was voted out after a reign of almost 12 years. Between Howard and Morrison, there have been four prime ministers including Kevin Rudd who served twice during an extraordinary period of political instability in Australia. Rudd’s second stint ended when voters ousted his center-left Australian Labor Party government at the 2013 elections. The other three prime ministers were toppled by their own parties panicked by poor opinion polling.