Malcolm Turnbull
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Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician, businessman and barrister who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party from 2008 to 2009 and again from 2015 to 2018, and was the member of parliament (MP) for the New South Wales division of Wentworth from 2004 to 2018. Born in Sydney, 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. 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 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, caused a leadership crisis with Peter Dutton challenging Turnbull to a leadership spill for the Liberal leadership. Although Turnbull defeated Dutton in the ballot, 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 since 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.