Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison will become Australia’s new prime minister after winning a Liberal party leadership vote on Friday, ending an internecine battle that has scarred the conservative government ahead of an election due by May 2019.
Martin Petch, vice president, Moody’s Investors Service “The changes in the leadership of the ruling Australian Liberal Party have no implications for Australia’s sovereign credit profile. Moody’s is assuming the absence of significant changes in the nature and implementation of policies. Australia’s Aerating is supported by the country’s very high level of economic strength and moderate level of government debt.
“Our assessment of Australia’s institutional strength takes into accounts a greater degree of fragmentation in broad political representation at the level of the Commonwealth over recent years which, at times, constrain the capacity of successive governments to pursue policy changes.”
Martyn Iles, managing director, Australian Christian lobby “We look forward to continuing our constructive conversation with the government on religious freedom. Religious freedom must be a priority for the Morrison ministry in light of increasing numbers of Australians who are getting into trouble with the law for living out their faith.”
Annette Beacher, chief Asia-pac macro strategist, td Securities,Singapore”PM Morrison is the most market-friendly option, having successfully negotiated through multiple portfolios such as Social Security, Border Security, and more recently presiding over a substantial improvement in the budget balance as Treasurer. Parliament and the markets will be closely watching post-vote polls to gauge if Morrison can even up the balance towards the Liberal-National coalition and away from the Labour Party under Bill Shorten. The skew towards the Labour Party at this stage ensures they will form government at the next election.”
Tony Johnson, CEO at Ernst & Young said, “We welcome the election of Scott Morrison as Prime Minister and extend our congratulations. There remain major challenges for the nation to resolve when it comes to tax reform, international competitiveness, cutting red tape and securing energy supply. Most importantly the business community needs policy certainty to promote investment and improve business confidence. The political turmoil of the past decade has come at the cost of our global competitiveness. We must return to the serious business of economic reform.”
Simon Bridges, leader, New Zealand national party on twitter “Congratulations to @ScottMorrisonMP on becoming Prime Minister of Australia. In talking to Scott, I’ve been struck by his warm regard and intimate knowledge of New Zealand. He will be a great friend to our country.
Alix Foster Vander Elst, campaigner at Greenpeace Australia said, “make no mistake, Scott Morrison is just a more polished version of Tony Abbott. He has shown over his career that he will not hesitate to continue selling out the environment at the behest of his mates in the fossil fuel industry. With large sections of Australia in severe drought and being scorched by dozens ofmid-winter bushfires, Morrison is a leader the country simply cannot afford. We need an election now to demand a greener,fairer country.
Phil Borkin, chief economist at ANZ said, “We don’t see wholesale changes in the policy agenda. Moreover, this latest leadership spill is occurring against a stronger economic backdrop than in previous episodes. The Australian fiscal situation is now healthier and the economy has better momentum (in part because the terms of trade is no longer falling sharply), arguably providing the economy with more resilience.”
