TONY Abbott is the new leader of the Liberal Party after defeating Malcolm Turnbull by just one vote in the leadership spill a short time ago.
As expected, the Liberal party room has voted in favour of a motion to put the party leadership to a vote - effectively putting leader Malcolm Turnbull out of his job.
Nominations were then called for, with Mr Turnbulll, Mr Abbott and Joe Hockey also standing as candidates.
A first round vote was held, in which Mr Turnbull received 26 votes, Mr Abbott 35 votes, and Mr Hockey was eliminated from the contest with just 23 votes.
Mr Turnbull and Mr Abbott were then the options in a final two-horse race, which Mr Abbott won by just one vote 42-41.
The narrowness of the margin confirms that magnitude of the split within the party, and leadership speculation will continue into the future given that one MP, Victorian Fran Bailey, was unable to attend the meeting for health reasons and there are reports that one of the votes counted was informal.
Mr Abbott told the party that the deputy's position would not be put to a vote, and that Julie Bishop would continue in that job.
The biggest surprise out of the vote was the quick rejection of Mr Hockey, who was standing on a platform of holding an ETS conscience vote.
As Liberal MPs entered a party room meeting to vote on the leadership spill motion this morning, Liberal number crunchers said that Mr Turnbull would be knocked out early in the race.
Mr Hockey was then expected to face off against Tony Abbott but was expected to win in the final round.
Earlier, Mr Turnbull said he was "very confident" ahead of today’s leadership spill.
Mr Turnbull said he was the only candidate with a strong, clear, consistent and principled position on the emissions trading scheme.
"That’s what I stand for," Mr Turnbull said.
He told Sky News just ahead of the ballot that he would "always fight the good fight" and maintained that Australians wanted to see the emissions trading issue dealt with.
He said the amendments secured for the Government’s proposed carbon pollution reduction scheme would protect tens of thousands of jobs.
"We can’t be a policy-free zone," Mr Turnbull said
"We can’t be seen as climate deniers."
When asked about his attack on colleagues earlier this week, Mr Turnbull said he had proven he could work with people he had differences with in the past.
"I don’t bear grudges; I’m not a hater.
"I’ve been able to put past animosities behind me."
He said he’s always believed that the "things that unite us are more important than those which divide us".
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