Turnbull to be 4th Australian PM in 5 years

Sydney: Australian conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott was dramatically ousted on Monday in a snap party vote mounted by challenger Malcolm Turnbull, the country’s fourth leadership change in five years. Abbott, who came to power after winning the 2013 polls, was forced into a leadership ballot among his Liberal Party colleagues after Turnbull said the coalition government faced defeat without change at the top. After his 54-44 victory, Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former lawyer and banker, pledged to bring “economic vision“ to the nation, but ruled out an unscheduled nationwide



election to cement his leadership. “This has been a very important, sobering experience today. I'm very humbled by it. We need to have in this country, and we will have now, an economic vision, a leadership that explains the great challenges and opportunities that we face,” he said. Abbott, whose views on issues such as gay marriage and climate change had divided many Australians, made no comment after the vote. Former communications minister Turnbull, expected to be sworn in on Tuesday, said his Liberal Party-led government would be “committed to freedom, the individual and the market.”