Scott Morrison is new Australian PM as Malcolm Turnbull ousted

A day after replacing Malcolm Turnbull following a ballot among parliamentarians from the ruling Liberal Party, Morrison had what he called a “great” phone conversation with Trump.

So wealthy that he preferred his own home to the prime minister’s official residence on the other side of Sydney Harbor, the former Goldman Sachs partner legalized same-sex marriage previous year over the objections of many of his conservative colleagues.

Australian Labor Party opposition leader Bill Shorten speaks at his election night party in Melbourne, July 2, 2016. When asked about her leadership ambitions in recent media interviews, Bishop emphasised her loyalty to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Former home affairs minister Peter Dutton, an ex-police officer and right-wing conservative, said he was confident he now had the numbers to unseat Turnbull, considered a moderate.

Morrison was treasurer, the most coveted government office after prime minister, and was regarded as the best economic manager among the candidates.

In the 35 years between 1975 and 2010, Australia had five prime ministers-the same number it has now had in the last 5 years.

Tony Abbott also chimed in, telling reporters “We’ve lost a prime minister but there is still a government to save”.

Morrison, who is now Australia’s treasurer, won an internal party vote over former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton by a margin of 45-40 to become the country’s next prime minister.

During their conversation, Trump and Morrison underscored the importance of the bilateral partnership between the US and Australia and pledged to continue to closely cooperate on priorities shared by the two countries, the White House said.

Dutton’s and Turnbull’s camps waged the most chaotic, frenetic and at times farcical leadership struggle that Australian politics has seen in years, closing down Parliament on Thursday so that the government could focus on its rapidly escalating internal crisis.

He also said he would work to bring Australia’s main conservative party, the Liberals, back together after it had been “bruised and battered this week”.

Turnbull came to power in a party-room coup in September 2015.

“It was described as madness by many, and.in so far as there has been chaos this week, it has been created by the wreckers”.

He ruled out calling a general election in the near term but will still face an early electoral test, as Turnbull is set to resign from parliament, forcing a by-election in a Sydney seat that has been a safe seat for the Liberals.

“I’m not pretending to know one end of a sheep from another, but I do know people are hurting in the country, and they have been hurting terribly”, SBS News quoted him as saying.

Mr Turnbull said he would quit politics “not before too long”. I want to assure all Australian that those normal wheels are turning, ” he added. “I have been a reforming Liberal prime minister”.

But it also attracted fierce criticism, fuelled by Morrison’s refusal to release details of the military operations to turn back boats, sometimes to countries with dodgy human rights records.