Malcolm Turnbull Gives His First Year As Prime Minister A Generous “So Far, So Good”

It’s been almost a year since Malcolm Turnbull put a pillow over the face of Tony Abbott’s terminal leadership to become Australia’s fifth Prime Minister in five and a bit years. It was a move that earned a collective “yeah, fair enough” from the public, and marked the beginning of what was pitched as a whole new style of leadership, one that was to be “thoughtful” and “consultative” and would respect the intelligence of the Australian people. In the weeks that followed, the Coalition enjoyed a healthy bump in the polls, and even lefties took a moment to indulge in a little cautious optimism.

Yes, for one brief moment there, it really did seem like everything was finally going to be okay.

51 weeks later, and Malcolm Turnbull now holds the slimmest possible majority in parliament (and he sometimes can’t even manage to hold on to that), boasts an approval rating lower than any second term PM in decades, and presides over a fractured party room whose vocal conservative element seems determined to see him fail – despite the fact that he’s sold out on almost all his progressive principals in an unsuccessful attempt to placate them.

In other words, “so far, so good”.

That’s the gold star that the embattled PM has stuck on what might kindly be called a 12 month slow-motion car crash. Speaking from the Pacific Islands Forum in the Federated States of Micronesia, Turnbull said that it had been “a year of great achievement, while also conceding there was “a lot more to do.”

“That’s why we’re calling on all parties in the Parliament; opposition, crossbenchers, members of the house, members of the senate, to support us as we reach across the aisle,” he added.

The positive self-assessment puts the PM at odds with his predecessors’ former Chief of Staff Peta Credlin, who earlier this week failed to name a single significant thing that Turnbull has achieved as leader. Although to be fair, it didn’t seem as though she was trying all that hard.

Peta Credlin Burnt Turnbull On The Bolt Report Again, Because That’s Her Whole Thing Now I Guess

Abbott, meanwhile, has ramped up his criticism of Turnbull in recent weeks, leading to murmurings that he may be positioning himself for a leadership challenge of his own. Which may sound ridiculous, until you think about literally all the other times it has happened in the past half-decade. It does kind of make you wonder why we bother with this whole compulsory voting, doesn’t it?

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h/t news.com.au