LGBT Australians celebrate as PM Tony Abbott deposed
By Nick Bond
Australia has a new Prime Minister, with Malcolm Turnbull successfully challenging Tony Abbott for the role of leader of the country’s Liberal party.
The former communications minister won the partyroom ballot 54-44.
It marks another chapter in Australia’s turbulent political cycle, as the third time since 2010 that a sitting Prime Minister has been deposed, not by the public, but by a vote from their own party.
While Abbott was elected Prime Minister via a landslide win over former PM Kevin Rudd in 2013, his fortunes have wavered ever since, as voters have expressed disappointment over his handling of many issues – including his continued lack of support for same-sex marriage.
Abbott will now go down in history as one of the shortest-serving Liberal Prime Ministers in Australian history, with one year and 361 days in the job – just ahead of Harold Holt, who drowned while Prime Minister in 1967.
In what must be a bitter pill for the departing PM to swallow, it’s being reported that to qualify for the AU$600,000 per year pension allotted to former Australian Prime Ministers – as well as the flights, superannuation, travel and other lifelong perks that come along with that – a PM has to serve for at least two years. Abbott missed that milestone by less than a week.
LGBT Australians have taken to social media and the streets today to celebrate, with thousands joining a ‘Bye Bye Tony Abbott’ event set up on Facebook, planned as a street celebration in the heart of Sydney’s gay Oxford Street strip.
But while new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is a more moderate conservative with a history of support for marriage equality, it may not be good news for those expecting him to instantly reverse Abbott’s party line against the issue.
Sources close to Turnbull have told the Star Observer that at this stage, he would stick with the “party position on a plebiscite on marriage equality” should he be successful in taking the top job from Abbott.
In a press conference after the spill, Turnbull did say that under his leadership, the party would undergo a culture change: “There are few things more important in any organisation than its culture. The culture of our leadership is going to be one that is thoroughly consultative, a traditional, thoroughly traditional cabinet government that ensures that we make decisions in a collaborative manner.”
“The Prime Minister of Australia is not a president. The Prime Minister is the first among equals.”