Challenges for the new Australian PM

Sydney: Among the challenges facing Australia’s new prime minister Malcolm Turnbull as he takes office are the following:

• Pacifying coalition partner, the Nationals

The National Party, the Liberals’ coalition partner, liked Tony Abbott, the outgoing prime minister. They were not happy with his overthrow. The last time when Turnbull was Liberal Party leader, the coalition was divided on issues and Turnbull had a major falling out with Nationals. Warren Truss, the Nationals’ leader and deputy prime minister, is now seeking a new agreement and a fresh start after the leadership change. Turnbull has caved in but analysts believe the Nationals, who are staunch royalists, will remain suspicious of Turnbull who has plans to banish knights and dames from the Australian honour list.

• Unifying the ‘broad church’ of the Party

Turnbull said he wanted to run a traditional, conservative and collaborative cabinet. The comments were his first step to heal the rift between bitterly divided Liberals and to appease the right flank of his party. In his attempt to unite, what he called the “broad church” of the Liberal Party, he will have to accommodate hardliners’ views that could be in contrast with popular public opinion and also with his own resolve. His new cabinet may widen the rift after his sweeping reshuffle.

• Climate change and same-sex marriage

Turnbull has promised to keep Abbott’s policies on climate change and gay marriage against his own declared position on both issues. He has already promised his MPs that Australia will not budge on its harmful gas emissions targets. At the same time he is likely to face international pressure to do more on air pollution at the global climate talks in Paris in December. He will also come under pressure on the issue of gay marriage as his own electorate has a concentrated gay population.

• The interests of the business community

Tax reforms and a bolder economic vision that may bolster national growth are the major challenges. The Australian business community expects from Turnbull tax reforms, the overhaul of superannuation and changes in workplace relations. Business leaders are also challenging the PM to reduce the level of debt that is high at national and state levels and devise policies to create jobs. The government has no majority in the senate and any major policy change will need the legislative support of Labor or Greens that may not be easy to get with elections less than a year away.

•Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his supporters

Tony Abbott, the outgoing prime minister, is not a happy man and he is showing it. He kept mum for more than 12 hours after he lost to Turnbull. When he did speak, he never mentioned or congratulated the new prime minister. A Sydney tabloid, the mouthpiece of Abbott’s rightist faction of the Liberal Party, called him the “Smiling Assassin” and named him “Malcolm Turncoat”. Peta Credlin, the most powerful figure in the former prime minister’s office has also openly attacked Turnbull calling his party-room win as the “Games of Thrones leadership coup.”

Abbott may remain as a constant irritating and destabilising factor for Turnbull.

— The writer is a journalist based in Sydney