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1st LD: Malcolm Turnbull wins party ballot to become Australian Prime Minister

Xinhua, September 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Malcolm Turnbull, former Australian Minister for Communications, won the party room ballot Monday night to replace Tony Abbott as the leader of the ruling Liberal Party and thus is to become Australia's 29th prime minister.

Turnbull grabbed 54 of the Liberal parliamentarian votes, 10 more than the votes Abbott managed to get.

At a late night press conference held after the ballot, Turnbull paid tribute to outgoing Abbott, saying the government under Abbott has made "formidable" achievements, including reaching Free Trade Agreements with Japan, South Korea and China, and secured Australian border by stopping the boats of illegal immigrants.

However, he pointed out that in the years ahead the world will be more competitive and greater opportunities arise, he aimed to ensure that the Australian people can take advantage of that.

"My government would be a thoroughly liberal government committed to freedom, the individual and the market," he said.

The government would now have an economic vision and a leadership that explained the great challenges and opportunities the country faced, he said.

"We can handle those challenges, seize those opportunities and . .. in a manner that the Australian people understand so that we are seeking to persuade rather than seeking to lecture."

He quoted New Zealand Prime Minister John Key as a successful example of effectively explaining complex issues to the people and making a case for them.

Turnbull announced that he was resigning from his position as communications minister earlier on Monday afternoon to challenge the prime minister for the Liberal Party leadership. Endi