Says a lot about Australian academics
In 1992 the Canberra Times asked 300 political and history academics to nominate the five greatest Australian PMs. The results of that survey tells us much more about the academics than the PMs. Their top six were:
- Ben Chifley, Labor, won 1 election, served 4.5 years
- John Curtin, Labor, won 1 election, served 3.75 years
- Alfred Deakin, Protectionist then Liberal, won 1 election , served 5 years
- Gough Whitlam, Labor, won 2 elections, served 3 years
- Robert Menzies, Liberal, won 8 elections, served 18.5 years
- Billy Hughes, Nationalist, won 2 elections, served 7.5 years
Placing Gough Whitlam over Robert Menzies is so ridiculous it is funny.