Winds of change down under as Tony Abbott ousted from power
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was ousted from power in an internal party ballot on Monday as the ruling conservative party attempts to win back a disenchanted public by replacing the nation’s polarizing, gaffe-prone leader with his more moderate rival.
PM Abbott lost a leadership ballot by members of his party, who voted 54 to 44 to replace him with former Liberal Party leader and communications minister Malcolm Turnbull, Liberal Party whip Scott Buchholz told reporters. Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former banker and tech entrepreneur, had called for a leadership ballot earlier on Monday amid flagging opinion polls for the two-year-old conservative coalition government. The change in leadership continues an extraordinarily volatile period in Australian politics. Turnbull becomes Australia’s fourth prime minister in just over two years.
In the hastily arranged party leadership ballot, Mr Abbott, who had been plagued by poor opinion polls, received 44 votes to Mr Turnbull’s 54.The vote took place at a meeting of Liberal MPs late on Monday. They also voted for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to remain deputy leader of the party.
The Liberals were elected in 2013 as a stable alternative to the then-Labor government. Labor came to power under Kevin Rudd at elections in 2007, only to dump him for his deputy Julia Gillard in 2010 months ahead of elections. The bitterly divided and chaotic government then dumped Gillard for Rudd just months before the 2013 election.
Before Rudd was elected in 2007, John Howard was in power for almost 12 years.
Monday night’s contest pitted a man who has been described as the most socially conservative Australian prime minister in decades against a challenger some think is not conservative enough.
