Morrison first recent Australian leader to survive 3 years

By ROD McGUIRK
Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Scott Morrison has become the most successful Australian prime minister in years just by standing for reelection on Saturday. 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 one who served twice during an extraordinary period of political instability in Australia. Most put Morrison’s survival for a full three-year term down to the credit he is given for leading his coalition to a narrow victory in the last election in 2019 when the opposition party was favored to win.