How is the Prime Minister of Australia chosen?
The Prime Minister of Australia is the leader of the party or coalition that holds a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. Australians do not vote directly for the Prime Minister; they vote for local members of parliament.
At a federal election, voters in each of the 150 or so electorates choose a member for the House of Representatives. The party or coalition that wins the support of a majority of members forms government.
The leader of that party becomes Prime Minister and is formally appointed by the Governor-General. The Prime Minister must be a member of parliament, and by convention sits in the House of Representatives.
Leadership changes
Because the Prime Minister is chosen by their party, they can be replaced without an election if the party changes its leader. This happened several times between 2010 and 2018, a period sometimes called the leadership spill era.
After those changes, both the Labor Party and the Liberal Party adopted new rules making it harder to remove a sitting Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister leads the Cabinet, sets government policy and represents Australia internationally. The role is not mentioned in the Australian Constitution but developed through tradition, following the British Westminster system. The first Prime Minister was Edmund Barton, who took office in 1901.