Australian prime minister ousted in internal party challenge

Australia will have a new prime minister Tuesday after Tony Abbott lost a Liberal Party leadership challenge to former Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Turnbull won 54 votes to 44 at the internal party ballot Monday at Parliament House in the capital Canberra, and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was voted in as deputy Liberal leader, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

Turnbull, who was ousted as leader of the party by Abbott in 2009, will become Australia’s fourth prime minister in just over two years when he is sworn in. He said "his assumption" was that the parliament would serve its full term, implying no snap election.

The change in leadership does not undermine the security of the government which commands a clear majority in the House of Representatives, where parties form government. Any no-confidence motion proposed by the opposition Labor party against the new prime minister would be doomed to failure.

Turnbull resigned from the cabinet earlier Monday before meeting with Abbott and declaring his intentions to challenge him for the leadership, as the two-year-old conservative coalition government struggles in opinion polls.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Turnbull said the nation owes a “great debt” to Abbott, and said he would lead a "thoroughly Liberal government committed to freedom, the individual and the market," ABC reported.

"The burden of leadership is a very heavy one. Tony has discharged that as leader of the party and, of course, as prime minister over many years now and the achievements of the government that he has led have been formidable," he added, according to the broadcaster.

At a snap media conference before the ballot, Turnbull, a former lawyer and merchant banker, said: "Ultimately, the Prime Minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs. He has not been capable of providing the economic confidence that business needs.”

Unlike Abbott, Turnbull, 60, who is known for his moderate views, supports gay marriage, wants Australia to replace Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as head of state with an Australian president, and backs a policy of making polluters pay for their carbon gas emissions.

Speaking before the ballot, Abbott, who has been described as the most socially conservative Australian prime ministers in decades, said: “This country needs strong and stable government and that means avoiding at all costs Labor’s revolving-door prime ministership,” referring to the Labor Party that changed its prime minister twice in three years.

Australia's Abbott survives leadership challenge

In February, Abbott survived a leadership challenge after lawmakers rejected a motion that called for a ballot for the party's top position, initiated by disgruntled lawmakers in the face of dismal opinion polling.

Abbott's ouster continues a volatile period in Australian federal politics, especially as 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, but dumped him for his deputy Julia Gillard in 2010, months ahead of elections. The government then dumped Gillard for Rudd months before the 2013 polls. Before Rudd was elected in 2007, John Howard was in power for almost 12 years.

Contributing: Associated Press