Malcolm Turnbull has made the leap from the communications portfolio to prime minister.
Turnbull last night successfully toppled Tony Abbott as leader of the Liberal Party in a 54-44 vote.
Turnbull yesterday resigned his position as communications minister to challenge Abbott.
"We need advocacy, not slogans. We need to respect the intelligence of the Australian people," Turnbull said yesterday.
If Abbott remains the prime minister, opposition leader Bill Shorten will succeed in unseating the government, Turnbull told a press conference called to announce his challenge.
"We have a hugely talented team here in the parliament," Turnbull said.
"Our values of free enterprise, of individual initiative, of freedom, this is what you need to be a successful agile economy in 2015.
"What we have not succeeded in doing is translating those values into the policies and the ideas that will excite the Australian people and encourage them to believe and understand that we have a vision for their future."
"This will be a thoroughly Liberal government," Turnbull said late yesterday evening following his victory over Abbott.
"It will be a thoroughly Liberal Government committed to freedom, the individual and the market.
"It will be focussed on ensuring that in the years ahead, as the world becomes more and more competitive, and greater opportunities arise, we are able to take advantage of that. The Australia of the future has to be a nation that is agile, that is innovative, that is creative."
"We cannot be defensive, we cannot future proof ourselves," Turnbull said.
"We have to recognise that the disruption that we see driven by technology, the volatility and change is our friend, is our friend if we are agile and smart enough to take advantage of it. There has never been a more exciting time to be alive than today and there has never been a more exciting time to be an Australian."
Read more: Government makes case against itself on telco security reform