Former attorney will be new Australian prime minister after Tony Abbott is ousted
Malcolm Turnbull (left) will replace Tony Abbott (right) as prime minister of Australia. (Photo from Malcolm Turnbull’s parliamentary website.)
Malcolm Turnbull, a former prominent lawyer and banker, will be the new Prime Minister of Australia after he successfully ousted the controversial Tony Abbott from power.
The long-running struggle between Abbott and Turnbull culminated on Monday when the ruling Liberal Party chose Turnbull as its leader over Abbott by a 54-44 internal party vote. According to CBS News, Turnbull had announced his challenge earlier on Monday amid sagging approval ratings for the Liberal Party-led coalition government.
The conflict between Turnbull and Abbott goes back to 2009 when the two first tangled for leadership of the Liberal Party (which is, confusingly for Americans, considered to be the right-wing party in Australia). The two men, both former Rhodes Scholars who worked as journalists while studying to be attorneys, vied for control of the party with Abbott prevailing by one vote.
This time, it was Turnbull that won. “I’m very humbled by the great honor and responsibility that has been given to me today,” Turnbull said to reporters after his victory. “There has never been a more exciting time to be alive than today, and there has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian.”
According to The Telegraph, Turnbull is a millionaire lawyer and banker who made his fortune and reputation by taking on high-profile cases. In 1986, Turnbull successfully stopped the British government from censoring Spycatcher, an autobiography of former MI5 agent Peter Wright. Turnbull also served a managing director of Goldman Sachs Australia. His journalism background consisted of a stint writing for The Sunday Times while at Oxford. He had been serving as minister for communications in Abbott’s government before challenging him for the leadership of the Liberal Party.
According to CBS, Turnbull has higher poll numbers across Australia than the gaffe-prone Abbott (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver once devoted an entire segment to making fun of Abbott). Turnbull is also more liberal than Abbott, an anti-gay, anti-immigrant religious conservative. Unlike Abbott, Turnbull supports gay marriage and initiatives designed to combat climate change. In the past, Turnbull has also been in favor of getting rid of the power retained over Australia by the British monarchy in favor of a republican government. He clashed with Abbott in the 1990s over the issue, the Guardian reports.
Abbott, who graduated from the University of Sydney in 1981 with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree, wrote for publications ranging from The Bulletin to The Australian prior to entering politics. “The prime ministership of this country is not a prize or a plaything to be demanded,” Abbott said prior to the leadership contest. “It should be something which is earned by a vote of the Australian people.”
