Malcolm Turnbull

He is also of Scottish descent; his great-great-great-grandfather John Turnbull (1751–1834) arrived on the Coromandel in 1802 in New South Wales and became a tailor.

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018.

He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.

Turnbull graduated from the University of Sydney as a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws, before attending Brasenose College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a Bachelor of Civil Law degree.

For more than two decades, he worked as a journalist, lawyer, merchant banker, and venture capitalist.

Malcolm Bligh Turnbull was born in Sydney, on 24 October 1954, the only child of Bruce Bligh Turnbull and Coral Magnolia Lansbury.

His father was a hotel broker, while his mother was a radio actor, writer, and academic, and a second cousin of the British film and television actress Angela Lansbury.

His maternal grandmother, May Lansbury (née Morle), was born in England, while his other grandparents were Australian-born.

Turnbull's parents married in December 1955, fourteen months after his birth.

The Turnbulls lived in a two-bedroom flat in Vaucluse, where Turnbull would attend the nearby public school.

Bruce and Coral's marriage was an unhappy one, and Turnbull wrote that the couple rarely slept or spent time together, only staying married due to himself.

Coral frequently belittled her husband about his lack of education and that the fortunes of the family depended on her.

Coral started spending increasing amounts of time with John Salmon, a professor of history at the University of New South Wales.

When Turnbull was nine, Salmon received a teaching post in New Zealand, and Coral went with him, ending the marriage.

Bruce told Turnbull that Coral was studying for another degree, which although Coral did get a PhD in New Zealand, was an effort by Bruce to hide the fact that Coral had left him.

Turnbull was from then raised solely by his father.

Turnbull suffered from asthma as a young child.

He was Chair of the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 to 2000, and was one of the leaders of the unsuccessful "Yes" campaign in the 1999 republic referendum.

He was first elected to the Australian House of Representatives as a member of parliament (MP) for the division of Wentworth in New South Wales at the 2004 election, and was Minister for the Environment and Water in the Howard government from January 2007 until December 2007.

After coming second in the 2007 leadership election, Turnbull won the leadership of the Liberal Party in a leadership spill the following year and became Leader of the Opposition.

However, his support of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme proposed by the Rudd government in December 2009 led in turn to a leadership challenge by Tony Abbott, who defeated Turnbull by a single vote.

Though initially planning to leave politics after this, Turnbull chose to remain and was later appointed Minister for Communications in the Abbott government following the Liberal-National Coalition's victory at the 2013 election.

Two years later, citing consistently poor opinion polling, Turnbull resigned from the Cabinet on 14 September 2015 and challenged Abbott, successfully reclaiming the leadership of the Liberal Party by ten votes.

He was sworn in as prime minister the following day.

The Turnbull government initiated the National Innovation and Science Agenda as its key economic priority, working to promote STEM education, increase venture capital funding for new start-ups, and launch an "ideas boom".

Turnbull also pursued "city deals" with local and state governments to improve planning outcomes and encourage investment in major infrastructure projects such as the Western Sydney Airport.

In an interview in 2015, Turnbull said that his middle name "Bligh" has been a family tradition for generations, originally given in honour of Governor William Bligh.

In 2016, Turnbull led the Coalition to a narrow victory in a double dissolution election.

In his second term, Turnbull initiated and campaigned for the "Yes" side in the same-sex marriage plebiscite, which was ultimately successful.

Turnbull also announced Snowy Hydro 2.0, a major expansion of the Snowy Mountains Scheme as a key component in enabling the transition to renewable energy.

In late 2017, the government experienced a parliamentary eligibility crisis that saw fifteen parliamentarians forced out of Parliament due to concerns about dual citizenship.

To address climate change and reform energy policy, in August 2018 Turnbull proposed the National Energy Guarantee.

Although initially agreed to by the Cabinet, the policy was ultimately rejected by the party room.

This, combined with poor opinion polling, led to Peter Dutton challenging Turnbull for the Liberal leadership.

Although Turnbull defeated Dutton in the party room, a majority of MPs demanded a second spill, which Turnbull did not contest.

On 24 August 2018, Scott Morrison defeated Dutton and Julie Bishop in the contest, and replaced Turnbull as prime minister.

Turnbull resigned from Parliament, triggering a by-election in his former seat of Wentworth.

The Liberal Party lost the by-election to independent candidate Kerryn Phelps, which resulted in the Coalition losing its absolute majority in the House of Representatives.

Since retiring from politics, Turnbull has become an advisor to Kasada, an Australian cybersecurity start-up.

He has been critical of the direction of the Liberal Party, and has joined with his former opponent Kevin Rudd in criticising the dominance of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in Australian political debate.