Turnbull, Malcolm (1954-…), was prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He led a coalition (partnership) of the Liberal and National parties. He served as leader of the Liberal Party in 2008 and 2009 and from 2015 to 2018. The Liberal Party favors little government interference in the economy and is generally conservative on social issues.
Early life and family.
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull was born in Sydney on Oct. 24, 1954. He attended Sydney Grammar School. He studied at the University of Sydney, earning bachelor’s degrees in arts in 1977 and in law in 1978. He later received a Rhodes Scholarship, which enabled him to study at the University of Oxford in England. He received a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Oxford and began practicing law in 1980. On March 22, 1980, Turnbull married Lucy Hughes. The couple have two children, Alex and Daisy.
Early career.
Turnbull quickly found success as a lawyer. His most renowned accomplishment in this field came in 1987. That year, the British government attempted to ban the publication in Australia of a memoir written by a former British counterintelligence officer. (Intelligence is information—usually secret information—about foreign governments and some nongovernmental groups that has been gathered by certain government agencies. Counterintelligence consists of attempts to identify, neutralize, and manipulate the intelligence activities of other countries.) The British government argued that the retired officer, Peter Wright, who was living in Australia, was bound by a lifetime oath of silence about his counterintelligence activities. Turnbull successfully defended Wright against the British government on the grounds that government officials had not tried to stop other authors from revealing much of the same information and that the book was not a security risk. The Australian courts agreed and also indicated that Australian courts were not required to enforce British rules and regulations. Wright’s memoir, Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer, was published later in 1987 and quickly became a best-seller.
Shortly thereafter, Turnbull left the practice of law and established an investment banking firm. Investment banking firms purchase newly issued securities, such as stocks and bonds, from businesses and governments and then resell them to individual investors in smaller quantities. Turnbull also cofounded several other businesses. In 1997, he joined the Goldman Sachs & Co. investment banking firm as the head of its Australian division. In 1998, he became a partner in the firm.
Through most of the 1990’s, Turnbull was a leading figure in Australia’s republican movement. This movement sought to make Australia a republic, with a president replacing the British monarch as head of state. In a 1999 referendum, however, Australian voters rejected the plan for becoming a republic. Turnbull wrote a book about this period, Fighting for the Republic, which was published in 1999.
Member of Parliament.
Turnbull was first elected to Australia’s Parliament in 2004, when he won a seat in the House of Representatives representing the constituency (voting district) of Wentworth, in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. In 2007, he served as minister for the environment and water resources under Liberal Prime Minister John Howard. From 2007 to 2013, under prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard of the Australian Labor Party, Turnbull held several positions in the Liberal-National coalition’s shadow ministry. A shadow ministry consists of the leading members of the official opposition. Turnbull’s posts included shadow treasurer and shadow minister for communications and broadband.
Turnbull was elected leader of the Liberals in September 2008. In December 2009, Tony Abbott was elected to replace Turnbull as party leader, winning the final ballot by one vote. Abbott became prime minister in 2013. Turnbull served as Abbott’s minister for communications. In September 2015, Turnbull successfully challenged Abbott for the leadership of the Liberal Party and became prime minister. Turnbull claimed Abbott had not successfully guided Australia’s economic policies.
Prime minister.
A major issue facing Turnbull when he became prime minister was that of people seeking political asylum (shelter and protection). In the early 2000’s, an increasing number of people from such countries as Afghanistan, Iran, and Sri Lanka attempted to sail to Australia from Indonesia. Many of these refugees paid smugglers to take them on overcrowded wooden boats that were not sturdy enough to handle the rough waters between the two countries. Under Prime Minister John Howard, the Australian government sent many of these asylum-seekers to detention centers in the Pacific Island nations of Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Others were sent to processing centers on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. The refugees were kept at these centers until their asylum claims could be processed.
After the government of Kevin Rudd changed these arrangements, Tony Abbott made stopping the boats a main focus of his campaign prior to the 2013 general election. After Abbott became prime minister, the Royal Australian Navy began intercepting boats carrying asylum-seekers and sending them to Nauru and Papua New Guinea, or back to Indonesia. Abbott sought to resettle these refugees in countries other than Australia. Although Abbott’s approach drastically reduced the number of asylum-seekers attempting to reach Australia by boat, critics accused the government of paying smugglers to turn back their boats. Some critics also raised questions about human rights issues involved in sending people back to countries where they could face persecution. Others voiced concerns about neglect and abuse at the detention centers. Despite these and other concerns, Turnbull maintained Abbott’s hardline approach to the asylum-seekers. This was one of several issues where Turnbull struggled to differentiate his positions from those of his predecessor.
Another issue facing Turnbull as he entered office was the fight against the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL). The Islamic State is a radical militant Islamic group based in the Middle Eastern countries of Iraq and Syria. In 2014, Abbott’s government began assisting the United States and other nations in launching air strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq. In 2015, Australian forces began launching air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria. After Turnbull came to office, his government continued supporting the fight against the Islamic State.
Turnbull used his background in business and technology to promote technology startups and innovation as a way to transform Australia’s economy. He introduced incentives and support for small companies as a way to reduce economic reliance on the export of commodities.
Turnbull’s government reintroduced several pieces of legislation addressing the regulation of labor unions in the construction industry. Abbott’s government had introduced the bills in 2013, and the Senate had voted them down in 2015. The bills were again defeated in the Senate in 2016, giving Turnbull the opportunity to call a double dissolution—that is, both the House of Representatives and the Senate were dissolved and fresh elections for both houses were scheduled for July. Turnbull led the coalition to victory in the elections and remained in power, but with a reduced parliamentary majority. Scott Morrison replaced Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party in August 2018 and became prime minister.
In 2021, Turnbull was made a Companion of the Order of Australia for his “eminent service to the people and Parliament of Australia, particularly as Prime Minister, through significant contributions to national security, free trade, the environment and clean energy, innovation, economic reform and marriage equality, and to business and philanthropy.” The Order of Australia is Australia’s highest award for service to the country or to humanity.
