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CANBERRA, Aug. 24-- Scott Morrison rode a wave of late momentum to become Australia's 30th prime minister on Friday, as his colleagues in the ruling Liberal Party deciding that the Sydney member of parliament (MP) represented a greater chance of electoral success than his main challenger, Peter Dutton. At the end of a dramatic week in Canberra, Morrison defeated Peter Dutton, 45 votes to 40, for the Liberal Party leadership, with the third challenger, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, eliminated in the first round of voting. This meant Morrison, the federal Treasurer, became the nation's 30th prime minister since federation in 1901, while the deposed leader Malcolm Turnbull announced that he will soon quit politics altogether. It was Dutton who first brought on the challenge to Turnbull during the week but the negative reaction to the prospect of his leadership style over the past two days clearly forced some Liberal Party MPs into a rethink. It was felt Dutton, a Queenslander and arch-conservative, who would struggle to win widespread support in more progressive states such as Victoria and New South Wales and would lead the coalition parties to electoral disaster against Labor. While he was once a vocal supporter of hardline former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Morrison, 50, is currently regarded as a slightly more moderate figure within the party, one who has a formidable intellect and was more likely to succeed in taking the electoral fight up to opposition leader, Bill Shorten. | 
