Turnbull Australia’s fifth PM in eight years

CANBERRA: Australia will get its fifth prime minister in eight years after the ruling Liberal Party yesterday voted out Tony Abbott in favour of long-time rival Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support.

Turnbull, a multimillionaire former tech entrepreneur, won a secret party vote by 54 to 44, Liberal Party chief whip Scott Buchholz said.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was elected deputy leader of the party which, with junior coalition partner the National Party, won a landslide election in 2013.

“Ultimately, the prime minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs,” Turnbull said. “We need a different style of leadership.”

Abbott pledged to fight the challenge but was ultimately unsuccessful in overcoming the “destabilisation” that he said had been taking place within the party over months.

He walked stony faced out of the party room following the vote and did not speak to reporters.

Abbott ousted Turnbull as leader of the Liberal Party in 2009 although Turnbull has consistently been seen as a preferred prime minister.

However, Turnbull’s support for a carbon trading scheme, gay marriage and an Australian republic have made him unpopular with his party’s right wing.

The challenge came as Australia’s $1.5 trillion (R20.2 tril-

lion) economy struggles to cope with the end of a once-ina-century mining boom and just days before a by-election in Western Australia state widely seen as a test of Abbott’s leadership. Abbott emerged badly weakened from a leadership challenge in...

IN: Malcolm Turnbull.