Australians last week endured a spectacle that has become sadly familiar in recent years: a new leader being installed after a sitting prime minister was unceremoniously dumped by the ruling party.

Thus it was the turn of Mr Malcolm Turnbull, a former investment banker, who quit last Friday after his party voted to hold a leadership ballot. He was replaced by Mr Scott Morrison, who defeated hardliner Peter Dutton who had led a rebellion of right-wing MPs against Mr Turnbull.