Australia’s revolving door of prime ministers has returned with three of the nation’s senior political leaders holding the top job in as many days.
With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese departing on Wednesday to attend a high-level Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in San Francisco, the role was passed on to the nation’s second-in-command.
From Wednesday afternoon, the Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles acted in the top job, but on Friday he too jetted overseas.
The defence minister is travelling to meet his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto and will also meet with other regional defence ministers in Jakarta following the 10th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting–Plus.
With Mr Marles overseas, Foreign Minister Penny Wong is currently serving as acting Prime Minister.
Mr Albanese will take the reins once again when he returns from his trip to the United States on Sunday.
Wong’s elevation to the top job didn’t go unnoticed with Coalition senators teasing her during question time on Friday.
Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham led the charge, asking Wong: “Do you have letterhead like Richard Marles does?”
The comment was met with laughter and jeers from the Coalition benches.
On a media release circulated to members of the press gallery on Wednesday evening, Mr Marles was already flaunting his new title, with the document attributed to the “ACTING PRIME MINISTER”.