Turnbull needs 26 days to overtake Gillard

Malcolm Turnbull needs to hold on to office until 17 September 2018, if he is to overtake Julia Gillard as Australia’s longest serving Prime Minister since John Howard lost office in 2007. The figures, covering Australia’s 13th to 20th longest serving Prime Ministers, help depict how turbulent Australian Federal politics has been since Kevin Rudd was ousted on 24 June 2010. The wave of spills since that night means that no voter born after 1989 has ever seen a Prime Minister they voted for see out a full term in office.

The earliest possible date for a simultaneous House of Representatives and half-Senate election was 4 August 2018, meaning Malcolm Turnbull now has it within his means to call an election at any time.