EFT Report, Canberra: Australia will get its fifth prime minister in eight years after the ruling Liberal Party on Monday voted out Tony Abbott in favour of longtime rival Malcolm Turnbull, following months of infighting and crumbling voter support.
Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former tech entrepreneur, won a secret party vote by 54 to 44, Liberal Party chief whip Scott Buchholz told reporters after the meeting in Canberra.
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 told reporters at parliament house ahead of the vote.
"We need a different style of leadership."
Abbott pledged to fight the challenge but was ultimately unsuccessful in overcoming the "destabilization" 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 economy struggles to cope with the end of a once-in-a-century mining boom and just days before a by-election in Western Australia state widely seen as a test of Abbott's leadership.
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