New PM Morrison tours Australia's drought-stricken Outback

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. Photo / AP

Australia's new Prime Minister has visited the drought-stricken Outback in a demonstration that he had turned his focus away from his Government's internal drama to the problems of the nation.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison nominated drought assistance as a top priority along with national security and economic growth when he was chosen by lawmakers in his conservative Liberal Party on Friday to replace his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull became the fourth Prime minister to be dumped by his or her own party since 2010 in response to poor opinion polling.

Morrison flew to rural western Queensland state, where crops are failing and ranchers are struggling to feed sheep and cattle after six years of drought. He has yet to announce any new initiatives to help farmers.

Morrison is working to heal a bitter rift between conservative and moderate lawmakers in his conservative Government to present a united front to voters at elections due by May. Peter Dutton, the hard-right lawmaker who led the charge against Turnbull but lost the leadership ballot to Morrison, was sworn in as Home Affairs Minister Monday. Dutton had quit that post so he could publicly challenge Turnbull.

Tony Abbott, a key Dutton ally who was Prime Minister before Turnbull replaced him in a similar Liberal Party revolt in 2015, declared yesterday that the Government would not turn against Morrison.

"The era of the political assassin is over and thank God for that," Abbott told Sydney Radio 2GB.

Morrison welcomed Abbott's comments. "It's been a pretty tumultuous time and I think Australians would welcome the fact that that that period of time is over and it should be over," Morrison told reporters in the town of Quilpie.

Opinion polling by the respected Newspoll published yesterday found the Government's popular support has crashed to its lowest level in a decade due to the infighting. The poll found that only 33 per cent of respondents intended to vote for the Government, a tie with a poll in 2008 when the Liberal party was in opposition a year after being voted out of power.

- AP