Abbott hasn’t indicated future: Turnbull

But charting a more centrist course is proving difficult to balance with holding together his riven administration and its wary right wing.

He also refused to say whether – as reported – he had advised Mr Abbott to offer Malcolm Turnbull the treasurer’s position earlier this year to heal divisions and provide a circuit-breaker to his political misfortune. Turnbull’s elevation has cemented a culture of disposable leaders as the new norm in Australian politics since the 11-year tenure of Prime Minister John Howard ended in 2007.

Royal Bank of Canada’s chief economist Su-Lin Ong said the leadership change should boost business confidence that has remained below its long-run trend and has struggled to gain any momentum in recent years.

Abbott had earlier pledged to fight the challenge from Turnbull, but was ultimately unsuccessful in overcoming the “destabilisation” that he said had been taking place within the party for months.

Foreign minister Julie Bishop was re-elected deputy leader of the party which, with junior coalition partner the National Party, won a landslide election in 2013.

Bishop was the only woman in Abbott’s first Cabinet sworn in in 2013.

“I am very committed to that, but I am not going to say any more about the new ministerial arrangements”, he said.

Turnbull has given no indication of how sweeping his reshuffle will be when it is announced at the weekend.

With its heavy use of coal-fired power and relatively small population of 23 million, Australia is considered one of the world’s worst per capita greenhouse gas polluters. “They have a very important role to play in public life”.

“Have a look at marriage equality”.

Malcolm Turnbull leaves the Liberal Party meeting at Parliament House on September 15, 2015 in Canberra, Australia.

“The objective is to ensure that Australians can make an honest conscientious decision”, he said.

“It is a historic day”, Croome said.

“Our policy is to have it (the referendum) after the next federal election”, Turnbull, who is well-known for his support for gay marriage, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation late Wednesday.

Opinion polls show that Turnbull is far more popular among voters than Abbott.

But a snap Morgan poll of 1,204 people contacted by text message Tuesday found that Turnbull was already preferred as prime minister over opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten by 70 percent to 24 percent. Turnbull is less appealing to conservatives.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs sees a one-in-three chance of a recession over the coming year, citing a contraction in some key indicators such as real net national disposable income. The Liberals were elected in 2013 as a stable alternative to the then-Labor government.

She was similarly knifed by Rudd ahead of the 2013 election. “Now all of a sudden, he wants a taxpayer funded opinion poll to delay marriage equality for all Australians”. On the other hand, Turnbull had never fought an election as leader. “Basically his party has split in half”, Tormey said.

Let’s also not forget, that while reforms to tax policy for startups are all well and good, without a modern and effective copyright and patent regime here in Australia, the country’s ability to innovate online will be hamstrung. “It’s really a hopeless state of affairs”.