Malcolm Turnbull joins a long line of Australian PMs to be thrown out by their own party.

So where did it all go wrong for the man who promised to bring stability?</s>Australian Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull's internal leadership rival on Thursday requested a second closed door party-room vote to decide the national leadership.

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull's internal leadership rival on Thursday requested a second closed door party-room vote to decide the national leadership.

"I spoke with Malcolm Turnbull to advise him I believed the majority of the party room no longer supported his leadership. Accordingly, I asked him to convene a party room meeting at which I would challenge for the leadership," Dutton wrote on Twitter.

The request was rebuffed by Turnbull, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported without citing sources.

Turnbull, whose Liberal Party is the senior partner in the coalition government, had won a party-room vote on Tuesday, but the unconvincing victory leaves him vulnerable to another challenge.</s>Larry Emdur has mercilessly trolled the Liberal party, honing in on an ironic aspect of the leadership spill.

On Friday, hours after Scott 'ScoMo' Morrison toppled Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop to wrestle control of the party away from Malcom Turnbull, the Morning Show host took to Instagram to poke fun.

Larry, 53, asked his fans whether the new rules banning parliament officials from having sex had come into place yet, because everyone was getting screwed on Friday.

After watching the controversial three-way leadership contest end in a spill on Friday, Larry couldn't help pondering the extraordinary policy.

'Has the Bonking Ban started yet?' he asked his Instagram followers.

'Coz it seems like there were a lot of politicians screwing each other today!'

The no-sex rule was put into place by former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as an attempt to prevent another Barnaby Joyce fiasco.

Barnaby, 51, is estranged from his wife of 24 years Natalie and their four adult daughters as a result of the extramarital affair he had with his then-media adviser, Vikki Campion, 33.

It forced him to quit as Nationals leader and deputy prime minister, and caused Malcolm to rewrite the ministerial code of conduct to forbid ministers engaging in sexual relations with their staff - regardless if they're married or single.

Larry has been making his own memes throughout the entire leadership spill ordeal.

Earlier in the day he shared a picture of Will Ferrell in-costume as the Christmas-loving helper from the movie Elf, smiling excitedly alongside a cheeky quote.

'Only three more Prime Ministers until Christmas!' the Channel Seven personality captioned the image.

Former home affairs minister Peter, an ex-police officer and right-winger, was the driving force behind the move to oust Malcolm after a party backlash against his more liberal policies.

However, Peter's plan backfired as he ended up losing the vote 45-40 to Turnbull ally Morrison - who will now become Australia's fifth prime minister in five years.

Julie Bishop was the third target of Larry's joke, with the Foreign Affairs minister also attempting to 'screw' Malcolm out of his job on Friday.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison will become Australia's new prime minister after winning a Liberal party leadership vote on Friday, ending an internecine battle that has scarred the conservative government ahead of an election due by May 2019.

CANBERRA: Incoming Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised generational change in the warring Liberal party on Friday, seeking to end an internecine battle that has scarred the conservative government ahead of an election due by May 2019.

Morrison, who was treasurer under outgoing prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, emerged the surprise winner in a three-way challenge for the leadership of the Liberal party brought on by a right-wing rival this week.

"Our job ... as we take forward this mantle of leadership as a new generation, is to ensure that we not only bring our party back together, which has been bruised and battered this week, but that ... we bring the parliament back together," Morrison said in his first appearance after his party-room victory.

"The new generation of Liberal leadership is on your side", he told Australian voters, many of whom are angry and frustrated with a decade of political instability in which no sitting prime minister has lasted a full term.

Morrison will be Australia's sixth prime minister in less than 10 years when he is sworn in around 6pm (0800 GMT) on Friday. He ruled out calling an election in the near term but will still face an early electoral test.

Outgoing prime minister Turnbull is set to resign from parliament, forcing a by-election in his blue-ribbon Sydney seat that could risk the government's one-seat majority.

Turnbull blamed his demise on "vengeance, personal ambition, factional feuding" in his party, led by conservative lawmakers including former prime minister Tony Abbott, the man he toppled in a party-room coup in September 2015.

"Australians will be dumbstruck and so appalled at the conduct of the past week," said Turnbull.

Liberal party member Warren Enserch said after the leadership vote: "This revolving door of prime ministers has got to stop".

The Liberal party is the senior partner in the Liberal-National coalition government that has consistently trailed opposition Labor in opinion polls in recent months. Bookmakers on Friday had Labour a favourite to win the next poll.

Morrison's victory marks the chance for a break from a decade of leadership clashes between Turnbull and Abbott in both government and opposition, but ideological divisions in the party over issues such as climate change, energy policy, immigration and even globalisation remain stark.

Indeed, after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was eliminated after the first round of the leadership ballot, Morrison only defeated Peter Dutton, his more conservative rival, by 45 votes to 40. Three changed votes would have altered the result.

Dutton was at the centre of the political turmoil this week. Seeking to head off his push for the top job, Turnbull unexpectedly called a leadership vote at a Liberal party meeting on Tuesday and won 48 to 35.

The victory margin was seen as unconvincing and Dutton and his influential supporters regrouped and pressed for a second vote, and seemed to be building momentum. Morrison emerged on Thursday as a candidate and quickly won favour with moderates.

While originally from the conservative wing of the Liberal party, Morrison is widely seen as a centrist and has rejected prominent right-wing policies, including limits on immigration.

"He is the compromise candidate, a bridge between the conservative and moderate wings of the party," said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia state.

"He can heal the wounds that threatened to fracture the coalition government and allow the government time to prepare for an election," he said.

But Morrison faces a series of policy decisions that could reopen old wounds within the government, including an impasse on energy, a topic that acted as a catalyst in Turnbull's demise.

Turnbull this week sought to placate conservative anger by stripping requirements for reducing greenhouse emissions from his centrepiece energy policy but the influential right-wing government lawmakers remain opposed to the policy.

Morrison will therefore need to find a way to meet Australia's commitment to reduce emissions by 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris accord without stoking old divisions, a challenge Turnbull said would be difficult.

"The truth is that the coalition finds it very hard to get agreement on anything to do with emissions," said Turnbull.

Morrison's victory was welcomed by financial markets, which have been shaken by the political instability. Australian shares edged higher on Friday, rebounding after three days of losses that saw the benchmark fall 1.5 percent.

"PM Morrison is the most market-friendly option," said Annette Beacher, Chief Asia-Pac Macro Strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.

However, Beacher said markets would be looking to see whether Morrison can narrow the gap with opposition Labor.

"The skew towards the Labor party at this stage ensures they will form government at the next election," she said.

It was also hoped Morrison would end the political instability that has plagued Australia.

"The political turmoil of the past decade has come at the cost of our global competitiveness ... the business community needs policy certainty to promote investment and improve business confidence." said Tony Johnson, chief executive officer of Ernest & Young.</s>Scott Morrison was elected by the ruling Liberal Party to become Australia’s next – and 30th – prime minister.

The 50-year-old overcame Peter Dutton, who was the key challenger to incumbent PM Malcolm Turnbull, to win a leadership ballot by 45 votes to 40.

He is expected to be sworn in by Governor-General Peter Cosgrove after Mr Turnbull officially resigns.

Born in Sydney in 1968, Mr Morrison has been Australia’s Treasurer – the equivalent of the UK’s Chancellor – since September 2015.

He was first elected as an MP in 2007 when he won the seat of Cook, located in the southern suburbs of Sydney.

He was appointed to the frontbench after the 2010 election, before being promoted to the Cabinet by Tony Abbott three years later, taking on the the role of Minister for Immigration and Border Protection.

In that role, Mr Morrison launched Operation Sovereign Borders, a tough military-led operation aimed at stopping illegal boats carrying asylum seekers from arriving in Australia – a policy which attracted huge media attention.

It was credited with eliminating maritime arrivals – but also attracted criticism from refugee activists and human rights groups.

A short stint as Minister for Social Services between 2014 and 2015 followed, before Mr Turnbull appointed him to the prize position of Treasurer after taking over from Mr Abbott as PM in 2015.

A biography on the Australian Treasury website reads: “As Treasurer, his achievements have included reducing the deficit, getting debt under control, maintaining Australia’s AAA credit rating, record jobs growth, cutting corporate and personal income taxes, ensuring multinationals pay their fair share of tax and reforming Australia’s banking and financial system.”

After last year’s referendum on same-sex marriage, Mr Morrison, a church-goer, said he would back a new “religious protections” bill.

Before beginning a career in politics, Mr Morrison worked in tourism and was managing director of Tourism Australia between 2004 and 2006.

Better-known as ScoMo, he lives in Sutherland in Sydney’s south with his wife Jenny and their two young daughters. He supports the NRL Cronulla Sutherland Sharks, and says he his a fan of Australian musician Tina Arena.</s>Malcolm Turnbull’s exit from Parliament - or even his survival, in the unlikely event that his latest hard-nosed tactics save him from a leadership spill - threatens to diminish an already viciously divided Liberal Party to a ruin from which it may take years to recover.

In elevating the crisis to what he called an insurgency by conservative bullies to push the Liberal Party to the right, Turnbull lifted the lid on a furious ongoing battle for the party’s identity.

It has caused such chaos that the House of Representatives was cancelled early on Thursday to try to deal with a cascade of ministerial resignations and challenges for the leadership from at least three of the party’s most senior figures.

Turnbull accused not just right-wingers within the parliamentary party, but forces beyond it, of fomenting an ideologically-driven schism - a reference to stridently conservative anti-Turnbull voices in the Murdoch media, including Sky TV, as well as Sydney’s Radio 2GB, owned by Fairfax Media.

No cornered leader, not even Kevin Rudd at his most furious, has come out as ferociously intent on scorching the earth behind him as Turnbull on Thursday.</s>WHERE did it all go wrong for Malcolm Turnbull?

He was meant to be a centre-right prime minister who could repair the deeply polarising legacy of Tony Abbott, appeal more to the masses and reverse the Coalition's dire electoral fortunes.

Instead, Mr Turnbull is fighting for his political life against an unknown and unpopular contender in Peter Dutton, who holds his Queensland seat on a wafer-thin margin.

How did he get here barely three years after taking the top job?

The Liberal Party is deeply divided and a civil war has been simmering for some time between the left and right factions.

On the face of it, it's driven by policy - but arguably more so by a resentment by figures who haven't swallowed the fact that their man Mr Abbott was cut down.

The hard-right cohort have increasingly felt that Mr Turnbull wasn't listening to them and as a result was alienating the party's conservative voter base.

In her open resignation letter last night, International Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells summed it up, saying: "The party was moving too far to the left."

The discontent and power of this group, which includes Mr Abbott as perhaps its biggest stirrer of disharmony, was demonstrated over the past week when Mr Turnbull revised his key energy policy.

It was seen as a capitulation of epic proportions to the hard right. But it changed nothing for the Prime Minister.

HE COULD NEVER APPEASE THE RIGHT

Even after Mr Turnbull's embarrassing backdowns on energy last week and again on Monday, essentially giving Mr Abbott what he wanted, it didn't win him any support.

The former PM, who had criticised the policy and a plan to legislate emissions targets, quickly moved to criticising the U-turn and calling it a sign of bad governance.

In her scathing letter, Ms Fierravanti-Wells said the same-sex marriage debate last year "eroded further the support of our base".

But Mr Turnbull, an open supporter of marriage equality, did exactly what the conservative brand of his party wanted. He went down the plebiscite route - originally Mr Abbott's idea - conducted via a divisive and costly postal vote, which Mr Dutton devised.

Everyone got to have their say, but with so much of Mr Turnbull's efforts to appease his rivals, it wasn't enough.

On many occasions, Mr Turnbull just hasn't been able to win no matter what he did.

Centre and left-inclined voters who once admired Mr Turnbull have come to loathe him.

The man they thought they knew, who would appear on ABC's Q&A program clad in a leather jacket, spoke of the importance of a climate change focus, who inspired with ideas, disappeared.

They felt let down by what they saw as Mr Turnbull selling his soul in return for power, with which he did very little.

And they have seen examples of Mr Turnbull kowtowing to the right on policy. They wonder what, if anything, he stands for anymore.

The Coalition has lost 38 Newspoll rankings in a row, and now trails Labor 10 points on a two-party preferred basis. Their primary vote has slumped to dangerous lows.

If an election was held today, Bill Shorten would be the next prime minister and some two dozen government MPs would lose their seats.

In summary, voters on neither the left nor right are keen on Mr Turnbull's government.

On the eve of the two-year anniversary of his ascension to the top job, Mr Turnbull appeared on ABC's 7.30 and copped a blistering first question from host Leigh Sales.

"You've been Prime Minister now for nearly two years. How is it possible that in all of that time you've not yet managed to have a signature achievement?" she asked.

In that instance and in countless other responses since, Mr Turnbull listed school funding, marriage equality and border protection.

But a hard-line stance on immigration was a carry-on of Mr Abbott's policies and then driven by conservative Mr Dutton.

Likewise, school funding was essentially a continuation of commitments made by the previous Labor government.

And on marriage equality, few of the people in the LGBT community who that change benefited credit Mr Turnbull for it, or feel warmly about the hurtful campaign that he forced on them.

The Prime Minister has claimed that getting refugee children out of offshore detention centres was a proud achievement.

But as has been seen in startling detail in recent weeks, there are still children in those camps.

Just yesterday, a critically ill 12-year-old boy was flown from Nauru to Australia for urgent medical attention after what experts described as "inhumane and cruel" delays by Border Force officials.

And his medical evacuation was further delayed when Border Force initially refused to allow his parents to travel with him, instead insisting the boy fly alone.

Mr Turnbull also lists among his achievements the re-establishment of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

It was seen as a political move to target the powerful Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, but the promise was that the revived watchdog would stamp out dodgy practices.

Instead, it has been criticised by the judiciary for wasting time and taxpayer money by bringing action against participants in a "cup of tea" meeting and for investigating a union sticker on a chair on a building site.

"This is all external forces that are beating up what's just a really ordinary situation that amounts to virtually nothing," Justice Tony North said of the ABCC in court last year.

Debt and deficit has increased. Wage growth has stagnated. The cost of living for many Australians has soared.

If you were to ask the average voter to name a signature achievement of the Turnbull Government, they'd probably be stumped.

On the back of rolling Mr Abbott and becoming PM, Mr Turnbull went to an election and wound up with a precarious one-seat majority in parliament.

It was seen as a disastrous result. Changing the leader had not worked.

Since then, negative opinion polls have dogged him. It didn't help that Mr Abbott's Newspoll losing streak was one of the justifications for knifing him.

But it was the Longman by-election in July that really rattled the Liberal-National Coalition, instilling a sense of dread in countless backbench marginal MPs that their jobs were at serious risk.

The Coalition secured just 30 per cent of the primary vote in Longman, down nine per cent on the 2016 election.

Queensland in particular is home to a swag of marginal seats.

Unless called earlier, the next election is less than 12 months out and at this rate, the government has a slim chance of retaining power.</s>CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s grip on power slipped further on Wednesday when he was forced to abandon his centerpiece tax policy and a conservative rival in his own party canvassed support for an imminent second challenge.

Turnbull’s legislative agenda crumbled around him this week as he first watered down his main energy policy and then withdrew planned tax cuts for corporations, at the same time as he fought off a growing challenge from former home affairs minister Peter Dutton.

Dutton challenged Turnbull on Tuesday in a vote by the Liberal Party, the senior partner in the center-right government coalition, that likely marked the beginning of the end for Turnbull.

Turnbull won the party-room vote 48-35 but the narrow margin of the victory made another challenge almost certain in a country that has earned a reputation for a revolving door of political leaders, with six prime ministers since 2009.

Dutton, who needs to win over only seven more colleagues to become leader, said he was already canvassing party support for another tilt at Turnbull, possibly as early as this week.

“If I believe the majority of colleagues support me then I will consider my position,” he said.

Deepening speculation about Turnbull’s future, Governor-General Peter Cosgrove canceled travel plans and will remain in Canberra this week, a source familiar with the plans told Reuters.

Cosgrove is British Queen Elizabeth’s representative in Australia and would need to be on hand to swear in a new prime minister if Turnbull was ousted, or to accept Turnbull’s request to dissolve parliament if he decides to call an early election.

The next election is due by May.

Australian newspapers echoed the frustration many voters feel over the constant leadership changes.

“It would be kinder to voters and more in the national interest if Mr Turnbull drove to Yarralumla (Cosgrove’s official residence) and called an election a year early,” The Sydney Morning Herald wrote in an editorial.

“The big risk is that he might be shafted even before he got to the end of the driveway,” it said.

The internecine Liberal Party strife has been a boon for the opposition Labor Party, who find themselves in the enviable position of having to do little more before the next election than sit back and watch their opponents crumble.

Labor used Question Time in parliament on Wednesday to ask seven of the nine Cabinet ministers who voted for Dutton whether they still supported Turnbull.

All seven had tendered their resignations to Turnbull, who refused them in an attempt to show unity and later said he had been given “unequivocal assurances of continuing loyalty”. Dutton and one other opponent were allowed to leave the ministry.

Turnbull’s decision to dump his unpopular plan to cut corporate tax rates to 25 percent from 30 percent was seen as an attempt to curry favor with colleagues.

His plan echoed that of U.S. President Donald Trump but, with record corporate profits and stagnant wage growth, the policy has proved widely unpopular with voters.

“It is clear that the policy was never going to be an election-winning one. There has been some concern within the backbench about policy, it will show them that he is listening,” said Rod Tiffen, emeritus professor of political science at Sydney University.

The upper house Senate rejected the policy on Wednesday and Turnbull said soon after he would no longer pursue it.

“We will not be taking the tax cuts for larger companies to the next election,” he told reporters in Canberra.

Despite Turnbull offering an olive branch, further political instability is all but guaranteed in the final two days parliaments sits before it breaks until September.

The turmoil has upset Australia’s financial markets, with the main stock market down nearly 0.5 percent on Wednesday to a nine-day low.

Turnbull came to power in a party-room coup in September 2015 over former premier Tony Abbott, who also survived an internal leadership contest before his eventual defeat.

A social liberal and multi-millionaire former merchant banker, Turnbull rode an early wave of popular support but he has struggled to appeal to conservative voters and only narrowly won an election in 2016.

Progressive supporters have also been disappointed as they watched government policies shift to the right as Turnbull tried to appease a powerful right-leaning backbench.

Dutton, a hardline conservative who carved out his reputation overseeing Australia’s harsh immigration policy, is unpopular with moderate voters, raising the possibility that a third, centrist candidate might still emerge.</s>The embattled Prime Minister said he would call the meeting and move the spill motion at 12pm if a letter requesting one, signed by a majority of MPs, was presented to him.

He said he would not stand as a candidate, and would resign both as Prime Minister and as a Member of Parliament.

Malcolm Turnbull is ready to call a party room meeting at midday and stand down as Prime Minister if he receives a petition. Picture: ABC. Picture: Kym Smith

Malcolm Turnbull is ready to call a party room meeting at midday and stand down as Prime Minister if he receives a petition. Picture: ABC. Picture: Kym Smith

"I will treat that as a vote of no confidence and I will not stand as a candidate in the ballot," said Mr Turnbull, who yesterday faced a mass exodus of 13 ministers.

Ms Bishop is reportedly pitching to her colleagues that she is the leader who could win the most seats for the party, telling them she "won't be another man's deputy", according to The Australian.

EXCLUSIVE: Number crunchers tell me early count has Scott Morrison ahead of Peter Dutton and Julie Bishop as next prime minister. #7News

The Foreign Minister's partner David Panton last night told the Herald Sun at Myer's runway show that she would claim the leadership.

"You've heard it straight from the horse's mouth - by tomorrow at lunchtime, Julie Bishop will definitely be Prime Minister," he said.

Asked whether he would be "the first man", he replied: "Just call me David."

Meanwhile, Mr Dutton has released a second legal letter from a lawyer saying he is eligible to sit in Parliament as he faces questions over his wife's childcare business, which receives government subsidies.

Scott Morrison, centre, and Julie Bishop have thrown their hats into the ring for the leadership. Picture: Ray Strange.

Scott Morrison, centre, and Julie Bishop have thrown their hats into the ring for the leadership. Picture: Ray Strange.

And public sentiment towards the government is at a low, with Greens leader Richard Di Natale tapping into the unhappiness by calling the instability a national embarrassment and telling Australia's leaders: "Hang your heads in shame."

Bill Shorten has always lagged behind Mr Turnbull in popularity even as Labor soared in the polls, but would be the nation's preferred prime minister if Mr Dutton were to win the leadership, according to a Roy Morgan poll.

A Reachtel poll found that 55 per cent of voters would be less likely to vote Liberal if the former home affairs minister were in the top job.

When asked yesterday why Mr Dutton was the best option to lead the coalition to victory at the next election, key senator Mathias Cormann ducked the question. "I'm not here to run a campaign for Peter Dutton," he told reporters.

His resignation yesterday and comment that he believed Mr Dutton was the best person to lead the party to the next election was labelled "the death knell" for Mr Turnbull.

Ms Bishop was working the phones yesterday evening, according to Guardian Australia, and had called more than a dozen MPs canvassing support by 7pm. But moderate Liberals said Mr Morrison so far had better numbers than Ms Bishop.

It's a marked turnaround for the Deputy PM, who had repeatedly promised loyalty to Mr Turnbull but has come under increased pressure in recent days from colleagues to declare herself as the third candidate.

A News Corp Australia online poll showed Ms Bishop was the preferred leader for the party among readers with 34 per cent of votes, followed by Mr Turnbull at 30 per cent, Tony Abbott at 17 per cent Peter Dutton at 10 per cent.

But despite Ms Bishop's popularity with the public, the path to the leadership in the party wouldn't be easy. In an earlier piece for news.com.au, Chris Urquhart noted that her moderate position, the questioning of her loyalty and her base in Western Australia - when the marginal seats need to be won on the other side of the country - were major hurdles for her.

There were also reports that Tony Abbott will stand in tomorrow's ballot, with Liberal MPs telling Herald Sun reporter Rob Harris he had "used Dutton all along", but the former prime minister has ruled it out.

Potential deputies include Josh Frydenberg and Steve Ciobo, with reports Health Minister Greg Hunt could stand as Mr Dutton's deputy in the ballot.

'YOU'VE FORGOTTEN EVERYONE BUT YOURSELVES'

Mr Shorten has largely remained quiet as the Liberals implode, but other Labor members have lashed out at the government.

"They're not conservatives, they are vandals," said deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek in parliament. "Today is the funeral of the modern Liberal Party."

In a similarly explosive speech, Penny Wong said: "People will remember the famous Menzies speech about the forgotten Australians that the Liberals always get doe-eyed about.

"You know what? You've forgotten every Australian but yourselves. You've forgotten everyone but yourselves."

The nation's disgust over Liberal infighting could, of course, play into Labor's hands at election time.

Liberal MP Tim Wilson described the petition as a "suicide note" for the party.

Speaking to reporters outside parliament yesterday evening, Liberal member for McPherson Karen Andrews said she understands only "one more signature is required".

"I will not stand by after having Parliament adjourned today to have this matter not concluded tomorrow," she said, adding that she would not necessarily back Mr Dutton.

ACT Senator Zed Seselja said there were more than 40 signatures, "certainly around about the mark."

He told the ABC "it would be extraordinary and I would say untenable if we were to say tomorrow that we will leave Canberra without having resolved this issue in the party room."

The NT News shared a powerful front page for tomorrow's paper, with the headline 'HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME'.

"Territorians, like all Australians, have had enough of politicians putting their own self-interest ahead of the people they are elected to represent," the paper says. "The events in Canberra this week are nothing short of disgraceful.

"By lunchtime today, we will likely have a new Prime Minister as 85 feuding Coalition MPs have the right to overrule the wishes of millions of Australians."

The front page echoed Mr Di Natale's powerful speech yesterday afternoon, in which he pointed to Australians who couldn't pay their medical bills, the homeless population, young people priced our of education and women who fear going home "because one woman a week is killed at the hands of a violent partner".

"And what have we got? We've got this spectacle. This disgrace. You should be ashamed of yourselves," he shouted across the Senate floor.

"You are so focused on yourselves that you have forgotten what the country has elected you to do, and that is to govern for them, not for you," he said.

"You don't deserve to govern. You deserve to be turfed out. That's what you deserve."

Julia Gillard also weighed into the leadership crisis, saying she could "understand why people would want to go and live in New Zealand given the leadership of the current prime minister".

Speaking at RMIT University, she declined to comment on the looming federal election and said her only advice for Mr Dutton and other challengers was to "drink a lot of water" and "make sure you eat some veggies and get some sunlight".</s>A relative moderate in Australia’s conservative party and an ally of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is poised to succeed him after a vote on Friday that capped days of chaos in the capital and underscored just how turbulent Australian politics have become.

Scott Morrison, who has been serving as the country’s treasurer, is set to become the sixth prime minister in 11 years after the vote by the governing party’s lawmakers. The vote was the second challenge this week to the leadership of Mr. Turnbull — who himself assumed office by leading a party revolt in 2015.

Mr. Morrison, 50, will lead the conservative party, which is known as the Liberal Party, in a general election expected in the coming months. He had backed Mr. Turnbull earlier in the week, but he later emerged as a more moderate alternative to Peter Dutton, a former home affairs minister known for his hard-line stance on immigration. Mr. Dutton mounted the earlier, unsuccessful leadership challenge, on Tuesday.

For Mr. Turnbull, the end came quickly. After months of negotiations, a rift within the party escalated last weekend over an energy proposal from the prime minister, which was meant to reduce electricity prices and address climate change by cutting emissions. Mr. Dutton rallied the party’s conservative wing against him.
Australian MP Peter Dutton claims that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has lost the support of the majority of the Liberal Party and calls for another leadership vote. Turnbull states that he will resign if another spill is called.