Former US president Harry Truman once said there is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.
A new book, The Pivot of Power (Miegunyah Press), sheds light on the history of Australia's prime ministers and political leadership between 1949 and today.
The book by academics Paul Strangio, Paul 't ('t) Hart and James Walter is timely as the voting public tears its hair out over the current crop of political leaders.
It's well worth remembering serial political bloodletting and the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd-Abbott-Turnbull-who's next leadership revolving door is not a new phenomenon.
As The Pivot of Power explains, in the early days of the commonwealth there were eight separate ministries and five prime ministers in a decade.
The knife-edge parliament of early WWII saw three prime ministers in the second half of 1941.
And the retirement of Robert Menzies in 1966 ushered in another spell of unsettled national leadership.
"Instability at the top has thus been a recurrent feature of the Australian political system," the authors explain.
So, don't panic.
Throughout Australian history, the book argues, leadership has relied on three pillars: personalities, institutions and context.
But it is the context that has changed the most in recent decades, making it harder for any individual - whatever the merits of their personality or quality of the organisations and departments around them - to be prime minister.
PMs are now expected to deliver results immediately - and keep doing so constantly between elections.
Secondly, there is a demand for prime ministers to look and sound competent, human and credible.
And, as The Pivot of Power says, they have to do so in the midst of a 21st century electorate feeling "rampant resentment against 'elites' who promised a 'fair go' as prosperity increased but created rising social inequality and growing uncertainty for 'Australian families'."
Somewhat reassuringly, the book ends on a hopeful note - noting three things about Australian political history and leadership.
Policy cycles and economic challenges come and go.
The public service and prime minister's office has proven resilient and capable of managing very complex tasks when necessary.
And there have (yes, it's true) been some strong leaders in the past whose skills and personalities perfectly suited the time and point in the political cycle they found themselves in.
Strangio and his co-authors suggest the standouts are Alfred Deakin, John Curtin, Ben Chifley and Bob Hawke.
But they are hopeful others will be added to the list.
"It perhaps seems a vain hope to trust in the wisdom or capacity of the right individuals simply to emerge again, but in the past, difficult circumstances have conspired to produce them. And the prime ministership has been a hardy and adaptable institution. It might yet prove so again."
Recent political events are conspiring to push this off in the distant future.
The citizenship scandal - which has engulfed seven MPs - threatens not only Malcolm Turnbull's lower house majority and ability to steer policy through the Senate, but public confidence in the parliament and political system.
Personal attacks, seen most recently in Finance Minister Mathias Cormann's blistering assessment of Bill Shorten being a "socialist" and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's New Zealand conspiracy, have become the weapon of choice.
Understandably, Labor has laughed off the attack strategy.
"According to the Liberals, Bill Shorten is a British, social-climbing, communist who's trying to steal government in conspiracy with NZ," Labor MP Tim Watts tweeted.
It is hoped once the smoke clears from the High Court citizenship debacle and the same-sex marriage postal survey - if it survives a court challenge - the government and opposition will get some clear air to debate their respective economic and social visions for the country.
However, the electoral cycle could make that breathing space very brief - especially if Turnbull decides to go to the polls at the earliest opportunity, in August-September 2018.
