Businessman-turned politician Malcolm Turnbull becomes Australia’s new prime minister

Businessman-turned politician Malcolm Turnbull becomes Australia’s new prime minister. September. 16, 2015 09:32. dew@donga.com.

Malcolm Turnbull has been sworn in as Australia`s new prime minister. The former investment banker and lawyer defeated Tony Abbott in a ballot of Liberal Party lawmakers Tuesday. Turnbull won by 54 votes to 44, hours after challenging Abbott who has been in office for two years since 2013.

Local media including the Sydney Morning Herald linked Turnbull’s victory to growing unease about the resource-dependent country’s sharply slowing. A raw materials exporter to China, the Australian economy has taken a beat by China’s economic situations, and grew just 0.2 percent in the second quarter while the Australian dollar fell to its lowest in six years.

Turnbull is a billionaire who built fortune from scratch and is proficient in finance and law. Born in 1954 in Sydney, he grew up in a single parent family due to his parents’ divorce. Despite unfavorable situations, he stood at his own feet and accumulated 130 million U.S. dollars. He completed law degrees at Sydney University, studied at Oxford as Rhodes Scholars, and worked as a journalist and investment banker before becoming a lawyer. He founded a law firm in 1986 and earned a fortune there, and entered politics in 2004 to become environment minister and head of Liberal Party. After victory over Abbott, Turnbull delivered a speech where he stressed he will do his best to revive the economy.

Turnbull is a liberal, different from Abbott who is a strong conservative. A Catholic, Turnbull has still championed a succession of progressive causes, including the republic, same sex marriage and climate change. An active user of social networking services including Facebook, he is good in communicating with younger people. Turnbull is also famous for firm convictions regardless of his party affiliation.