Australias new Prime Minister, Malcom Turnbull

IT DIDN’T take long for the memes and jokes to start flooding social media after Tony Abbott was officially ousted as Prime Minister.

While some expressed their collective disappointment over the state of Australian politics by tweeting “another year, another Prime Minister”, others took the opportunity to make light of the situation.

Mr Abbott was beaten by Malcolm Turbull 54 votes to 44.

“This has been a very important, sobering experience today. I am very humbled by it,” said the man often accused of displaying limited humility.

“We need to have in this country — and we will have now — an economic vision, a leadership, that explains the great challenges and opportunities that we face,” Mr Turnbull said.

He would be “seeking to persuade, rather than seeking to lecture”.

Mr Turnbull was quick to establish critical benchmarks of the new administration:

● “The culture” of his leadership would be “thoroughly consultative”

● The Abbott climate change policy would be retained, despite Mr Turnbull’s past preference for a market-based emissions trading scheme

● To appease the Liberal right, he promised a “thoroughly Liberal government committed to freedom, the individual and the market”

● And to satisfy Liberals who believed policy was stalled in last century under Mr Abbott, he promised not to attempt to “future-proof ourselves” and to “recognise the disruption we see driven by technology … is our friend, if we are agile and smart enough to take advantage of it”.

“I did what a deputy (leader) has to do and that is to reflect the views of the party,” Ms Bishop told Today this morning.

“Tony asked for six months to turn it around and unfortunately that hadn’t happened.

“It became obvious to me that the majority of the party had lost confidence in Tony (and) I informed him as is my duty as deputy.”

Asked how Mr Abbott had taken the news, the normally stoic Ms Bishop struggled to contain her emotions.

“He was calm, he was obviously very hurt. I feel for Tony, I feel for (his wife) Margie and his daughters, and I know what stresses and strains the leadership were under.