Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is the 29th and current Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Liberal Party, having assumed office in September 2015. He has served as the member of parliament for Wentworth since 2004.
Turnbull attended Sydney Grammar School before going on to the University of Sydney, where he received an arts degree and later a law degree. He then attended Brasenose College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar, where he attained a Bachelor of Civil Law. Before entering politics, Turnbull worked as a journalist, lawyer, investment banker and venture capitalist. In 1993, he became the chair of the Australian Republican Movement, serving in the position until 2000.
Briefly Minister for the Environment and Water in the Howard government in 2007, Turnbull was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in September 2008, becoming Leader of the Opposition. In November 2009, his support for the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme proposed by the Labor Government split the Liberal Party. In a ballot the following month, Turnbull lost the leadership to Tony Abbott by one vote.
Initially intending to leave politics, Turnbull remained an MP and eventually became Minister for Communications in the Abbott Government in September 2013.
In September 2015, Turnbull challenged Abbott for the Liberal leadership, and won the subsequent ballot with 54 votes to Abbott's 44. He succeeded Abbott as prime minister the following day.
In August 2018, a challenge by Peter Dutton led to two spills for the leadership of the Liberal Party. Following a spill on 24 August 2018, Treasurer Scott Morrison defeated Dutton in a leadership ballot. Turnbull did not nominate as a candidate and subsequently resigned as Prime Minister.
Turnbull subsequently announced that he would be resigning as the Member for Wentworth, effective 31 August 2018.