A smirking Bill Shorten welcomed the news that Tony Abbot had been ousted as Liberal party leader and prime minister with the words "one down and one to go".

Mr Shorten addressed colleagues at the Labor Party room in Canberra this morning after Malcolm Turnbull was elected Liberal leader and prime minister-designate in a spill motion last night.

The opposition leader’s message was that while the Liberals had changed leader the problems that led them to that dramatic decision had not gone away and Mr Turnbull's personality presented its own challenges.

"There's no new direction. There may not be the same leader but it is in fact the same message from the Liberal Party. This country has been going nowhere for the last two years," Mr Shorten said, proceeding to reel off a series of economic indicators that have worsened under Mr Abbott's leadership.

"And yet Malcolm Turnbull has said that the problem was only in the style, not the substance," Mr Shorten said.

"This country needs no more showmen, it actually just needs substance.

"Australians deserve better because Australians understand the thing about Malcolm is it's always about Malcolm," Mr Shorten said.

The Labor leader also accused Mr Turnbull of selling out to secure the Liberal leadership and prime ministership.

"What happened to climate change Malcolm?" Mr Shorten said.

"Now he wants to pay polluters to pollute."

Mr Shorten also suggested that Mr Turnbull had watered down his previous strong support for the legalisation of gay marriage, saying he has rejected it for "a taxpayer-funded opinion poll to delay marriage equality for all Australians."

The opposition leader told his colleagues that the nation needed a new direction "not just a new salesman".