SCOTT Morrison will become Australia’s 30th Prime Minister after he defeated Peter Dutton in a Liberal partyroom ballot today.
Mr Morrison, who had most recently served in Macolm Turnbull’s ministry as Treasurer, defeated Mr Dutton by 45-40.
Josh Frydenberg will become the party’s deputy leader, replacing Julie Bishop.
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READ NOWMr Dutton congratulated Mr Morrison and Mr Frydenberg.
“I thank Malcolm Turnbull very much for his service as Prime Minister of this country and Julie Bishop who’s been an amazing foreign affairs minister and deputy leader of our party,” he said.
“My course from here is to provide absolute loyalty to Scott Morrison, to make sure we that we win the election and defeat Bill Shorten and make sure he’s never Prime Minister.”
Mr Turnbull quit the job after he called for a spill of leadership positions in a Liberal partyroom meeting on Friday.
Mr Dutton, Mr Morrison and Ms Bishop contested a three-way contest to replace him, with Ms Bishop getting the lowest vote.
The two remaining candidates fought it out to decide who would assume leadership, with Mr Morrison victorious.
The original spill motion was carried 45 votes to 40, meaning almost half the partyroom wanted Mr Turnbull to stay in power.
It is understood Mr Turnbull has not yet indicated to the meeting when he will retire from Parliament.
An immediate retirement would trigger a by-election in the NSW seat of Wentworth.
The meeting had been expected to start at midday but was delayed while the 43 signatures on a petition calling for the meeting were verified.
Mr Morrison was regarded as the outsider for the PM’s position, with one leading bookmaker rating him a $4 chance for the top job, with Ms Bishop at $2.30 and Mr Dutton at $2.40.
The Australian dollar has jumped on the news of the new PM, moving sharply higher to 72.85 US cents when the former Treasurer’s victory was confirmed at about 10.50am WST.
It had been trading between 72.39 and 72.506 US cent ahead of the Liberal party room vote.
WHO IS SCOTT MORRISON?
* Born May 13, 1968 in Sydney
* Married to Jenny and has two daughters
* Often referred to as ScoMo
* Studied an economics and geography degree at the University of NSW
* General Manager of Tourism Council between 1996-1998, then Director of the New Zealand Office of Tourism and Sport 1998-2000.
* State Director of the NSW Liberal Party 2000-2004
* As director of Tourism Australia 2004-2006 he presided over the campaign featuring the slogan “Where The Bloody Hell Are You?
* Elected as the Federal Member for Cook in 2007 after first losing the preselection to Michael Towke, who was disendorsed over reported branch stacking
* Appointed to the front bench by federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull in 2008
* Took on shadow minister for immigration and citizenship in 2009 following Tony Abbott’s leadership spill
* Appointed by Tony Abbott as Minister for Immigration and Border Protection from September 2013, then Minister for Social Services from December 2014
* After Malcolm Turnbull replaced Tony Abbott as prime minister he was made Treasurer from September 2015
* Holds the safe seat of Cook in southern Sydney with a margin of 15.4 per cent.