Who Is Scott Morrison? Australia's New Prime Minister To Replace Malcolm Turnbull

Scott Morrison was elected the new prime minister of Australia after he won 45-40 votes Friday at about 12.30 pm local time (10.30 pm EDT, Thursday).

The Liberal party leader became the 30th prime minister of Australia following a three-way battle with former Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Bishop was eliminated first with the lowest amount of votes. The final battle between Morrison and Dutton was finally won by the former.

“My course from here is to provide absolute loyalty to Scott Morrison to make sure that we win the election and that we defeat Bill Shorten,” Peter Dutton said after the win.

The deputy position was won by Josh Frydenberg.

Morrison will take over as the prime minister from Malcolm Turnbull who was overthrown following a call for a leadership spill — which in Australian politics refers to a declaration that the spot is vacant and elections can be held for it — from the majority of MPs. Turnbull resigned the seat Thursday, and said he will quit the parliament “before too long.” Morrison had served as treasurer under the leadership of Turnbull.

The prime minister-elect was born in Waverley, Sydney, New South Wales, a cluster of southern beach suburbs known for its churches, and lack of ethnic diversity.

He is the son of a policeman who served for 16 years on the Waverley Municipal Council. Morrison met his wife Jenny Warren at a Sydney church when they were 12. They married at the age of 21, and now have two children. Morrison is often referred to as ScoMo, an abbreviation of his first and last name.

Morrison is an active member of the evangelical church which voted no on same-sex marriage. He has listed “church” as one of his interests in his Who’s Who report and said former Prime Minister John Howard was his political inspiration. He is said to be a socially conservative and economically liberal leader.

“Growing up in a Christian home, I made a commitment to my faith at an early age,” he said in a speech. “From my faith I derive the values of loving-kindness, justice and righteousness, to act with compassion and kindness, acknowledging our common humanity and to consider the welfare of others; to fight for a fair go for everyone to fulfil their human potential and to remove whatever unjust obstacles stand in their way, including diminishing their personal responsibility for their own wellbeing; and to do what is right, to respect the rule of law, the sanctity of human life and the moral integrity of marriage and the family.”

Morrison holds an economics and geography degree from the University of New South Wales. After graduating, he moved to pursue a career in the tourism industry and was involved in major multiple campaigns such as television personality Lara Bingle's "Where the bloody hell are you?" and “100% Pure New Zealand” campaign.

He won the pre-selection for the Division of Cook in New South Wales but lost the seat. He was a shadow minister for immigration and citizenship when Tony Abbott became party leader.

Morrison was then appointed minister for social services in 2014 under then Prime Minister Abbott, but became the treasurer in 2015 when Malcolm Turnbull took over.

Following Morrison’s victory, the Australian dollar spiked in value after it had been on a downward trend over the last couple of days due to the political instability in the country.