Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Dethroned in an Internal Party Leadership Ballot

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was on 14 September 2015 ousted from the power as leader of the ruling centre-right Liberal Party.

He was ousted after he lost to challenger Malcolm Turnbull in an internal party leadership ballot. In the ballot, Abbott received 44 votes while Turnbull received 54 votes.

With this, Turnbull, the former Communication Minister of Australia, became Australia's fourth prime minister since 2013 and overall he is the 29th Prime Minister of Australia.

However, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will remain deputy leader of the Liberal Party. Bishop secured 70 votes, against 30 votes against her cabinet colleague Kevin Andrews.

This internal party leadership ballot was an outcome of the leadership challenge posed by Turnbull claiming that Tony Abbott was incapable of providing the economic leadership the country needs. Prior to challenging the leadership of Tony Abbott, Turnbull had resigned from the cabinet.

Under the Australian parliamentary system, Prime Minister is not directly elected by voters but he is the leader of the party or coalition that can command a majority in parliament.

The last Australian prime minister to serve a full term was John Howard, who left power in 2007. In that year, Kevin Rudd was elected as the prime minister, but was ousted by his own party member Julia Gillard, who went on to become Australia’s first female prime minister.

However, Julia Gillard was later ousted by Rudd itself in a leadership vote in June 2013, months before a general election was won by Tony Abbott's Liberal Party and its coalition partners the National Party.

Now get latest Current Affairs on mobile, Download # 1  Current Affairs App