Why did Malcolm Turnbull get replaced as Prime Minister?

The ousting of Malcolm Turnbull from Australia’s top job is one of the most scandalous and chaotic episodes in recent Australian political history. Many Australians felt completely blindsided, going to bed sure of one Prime Minister and waking up with a new one.

There was no major scandalous action Turnbull has taken to get ousted from his position as Prime Minister and get replaced with Scott Morrison. A great number of Australians were shocked that leadership could change in such a seemingly arbitrary way.

If you ask Turnbull what happened, he cites an insurgency of far-right dissent that wanted to take control of the Liberal party. Malcolm was seen by many hardcore conservatives as too centrist, especially when it came to his support of same-sex marriage.

Malcolm Turnbull was also a supported of the Australian Republic movement, something which would see Australia throw off its ties to the British monarchy. Many conservatives were considered loyal to the Commonwealth and did not want to harm Australia’s cultural ties with Great Britain.

Turnbull has said that this turn of events was damaging to the public image of the Liberal party. The Labor opposition capitalised on the ousting and said that the Liberal party was hopeless when it came to leadership and was a party that had a lack of unity.

Many Australians believed that Turnbull was unfairly ousted and that he should have been given a chance to go to an election. However, the person who replaced him (Scott Morrison) was later validated by winning an election.

Since his ousting, Turnbull has spoken at length about what happened and has been labelled as sour by his former colleagues. There’s no doubt that Turnbull believes that what happened to him was unfair in every regard.