Ex-Prime Minister Turnbull (left) replaced by Scott Morrison (right)
(Photos courtesy Agency France Press via the BBC)
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1. Centrist Scott Morrison has now been voted Leader of the Liberal Party meaning he is the
Prime Minister designate. His job will be confirmed today.
But Morrison only barely beat Peter Dutton (45 to 40) in the replace-Turnbull leadership vote today. Dutton leads the main faction that lobbied to unseat Prime Minister Turnbull but Dutton hasn't won Turnbull's job.
This means it is likely a frustrated Dutton will destabilise new Prime Minister Morrison until Dutton gets his job in a leadership vote in the next few weeks or months. If Morrison or Dutton appoint Tony Abbott as the new Defence Minister this may conceivably cause the Japanese Soryu submarine to be the preferred Australia's future submarine type.
2. Meanwhile if Turnbull resigns his seat of Wentworth in the House of Representatives this month the Liberal-National Coalition may not win a subsequent By Election in Wentworth. The Coalition Government therefore may not retain its 1 seat (76 vs 75) majority in the House of Representatives. This means a General Election may need to be called to occur by October 2018.
Such an Election is likely to be won by the Labor Opposition (with its own priorities on the industrial plan for the new submarine build). A Labor Government would want a higher percentage of submarine build to occur at the Williamstown Dockyardin the mainly Labor State of Victoria, Australia.
For a longer useful account on the broad political changes today see.
Pete