CANBERRA, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has cited a failure to connect with voters as the reason behind the downfall of his predecessor.
Addressing August's deposition of Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the governing Liberal-National Party (LNP) for the first time, Morrison said there were concerns within the party that Turnbull was out of touch with voters.
Morrison was sworn-in as new prime minister in August after winning a ballot on the leadership of the government, which took place after Turnbull vacated the position.
"Those who had advocated that (change in leadership) made points about the need to better connect with the values and beliefs of Liberal, Nationals and LNP members across the country," he told News Corp Australia on Saturday.
"We live in a parliamentary democracy, we don't live in a presidential system and the parliamentary Liberal Party decides who their leader is and the parliamentary Liberal Party formed a decision that we wanted to make a change," Morrison said.
His comments came in the wake of Turnbull's first media appearance since he retired from politics.
Turnbull identified conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) within the LNP as the architects of his downfall as well as a host of his own ministers.
However, he absolved Morrison, a Turnbull supporter who only contested the leadership because his predecessor stood aside, of any blame.
Despite Morrison's assertion that Turnbull could not connect with voters, the LNP has fallen further behind in the polls since the leadership was resolved.
According to the latest Newspoll, the LNP trails the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) 54-46 on a two-party preferred basis compared to 51-49 in Turnbull's last poll as leader.
