Malcolm Turnbull Is The Leader Of The Liberal Party
Malcolm Turnbull has just scraped through to beat Tony Abbott for leadership of Australia’s Liberal Party with 54 votes to 44 and will become the 29th Prime Minister of Australia.
It’s was a grim night for the country as we endured the sixth leadership spill in the space of only five years.
Turnbull announced his plan to challenge Mr. Abbott late this afternoon by resigning from his cabinet position and teaming up with Julie Bishop who formally request a ballot from the PM.
The surprise move then sent members of the party in to chaos, tearing apart lifelong personal and political relationships in a bid to find a leader for our supposed democratic nation. The public’s voice was nowhere to be heard, but Turnbull said people had “made up their minds about Mr Abbott’s leadership“.
UPDATES:
- 10:55pm – In the words of the future PM, it’s late. We’re cooked and will be back tomorrow.
- 10:48pm – “There will be changes to ministerial arrangements”
- 10:46pm – Turnbull really wants Australia to go to bed, is very concerned that it’s getting late.
- 10:44pm – Turnbull: “The Australia of the future has to be a nation that is agile, creative, innovative”
- 10:41pm – Malc has taken to the stage and begins by thanking Tone
- 10:38pm -Watching the ABC buy time for Malcolm to address the country is like watching Hot-Dogs on The Late Night game show.
- 10:16pm – The Internet is flooding with reactions to the news (more tomorrow) including #putoutyouronions is trending.
- 10:12pm – It’s being reported that Tony Abbott falls 4 days from qualifying for his Prime Ministerial benefits.
- 9:57pm – Members of the party are still exiting the room. There are reports that Turnbull and Bishop will be addressing the media within the next 15 minutes.
MORE TO COME