CANBERRA: Tony Abbott was formally sworn in as Australia’s new prime minister on Wednesday, days after his national liberal coalition won a majority in the lower house on September 7 polls against the Labor Party’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
The 55-year-old Abbott immediately ordered the scrapping of the country’s carbon tax and the halting of asylum-seeker boats after the ceremony at Government House in Canberra on Wednesday.
“Today is not just a ceremonial day, it’s an action day. The Australian people expect us to get straight down to business and that’s exactly what this government will do,” the new premier said in a statement.
“We hope to be judged by what we have done, rather than by what we have said we would do.”
