Outgoing Australia PM Tony Abbott Says to Make Leadership Change Easy

CANBERRA: Outgoing Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged on Tuesday to make the change of leadership as easy as possible after losing a party room vote to rival Malcolm Turnbull, giving Australia its fourth prime minister in two years.

"Leadership changes are never easy for our country. My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can," a sombre Abbott told reporters in Canberra. "There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping."

Abbott's Liberal Party and its junior coalition partner the National Party won a landslide election in 2013 but Abbott saw his popularity plummet after a series of perceived policy missteps, destabilising infighting and leaks.