The Abbott government delivered its election promises of removing industry taxes on mining and carbon emissions, and halting unauthorised boat arrivals, but its first Budget's expenditure cuts and surprise revenue proposals met with a hostile reception in the Senate and media.

Monarchist Abbott's decision to knight the Duke of Edinburgh brought heavy media criticism, and amid declining poll numbers for the Coalition, rumours of an intention by republican Malcolm Turnbull to challenge for the leadership continued.

On 5 February, Fairfax reported that leadership speculation was at "fever pitch" after backbench Senator Arthur Sinodinos (a demoted-Minister) questioned Abbott's judgement on Sky News and refused to confirm if the Prime Minister would still hold his job in a week's time.

[28] Following the Second Hockey Budget in May 2015, Newspoll placed Abbott's approval rating at an eight-month high, and in front of Opposition leader Bill Shorten as better prime minister for the first time in six months.

[30] Turnbull cited extended poor polling by the Abbott government and a need for a new style of "economic leadership" as reasons for mounting his challenge: "We have lost 30 Newspolls in a row.

[3] In response, Abbott said that he was "dismayed by the destabilisation that's been taking place now for many, many months" and that Australia needed "strong and stable government and that means avoiding, at all costs, Labor's revolving-door prime ministership".

[32][33][34] Prior to the ballot, the Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, noted in a news conference that the Coalition agreement between the Liberal Party and the Nationals was negotiated with Abbott and that any change in leader would require it to be renegotiated.

[citation needed] Turnbull dropped Abbott, Joe Hockey, Eric Abetz, Ian Macfarlane, Kevin Andrews, Michael Ronaldson and Bruce Billson from his ministry, but increased the number of cabinet ministers from 19 to 21.

On 11 February 2016, Deputy Prime Minister, Warren Truss, announced his decision to retire at the 2016 federal election and resigned with immediate effect as Parliamentary Leader of the National Party of Australia.

[70][71][72] On 12 February, it was reported that Stuart Robert was resigning from the ministry after an internal investigation, ordered by Turnbull, concluded that he had "acted inconsistently with the Statement of Ministerial Standards".

[80] US Secretary of State John Kerry, criticised Russia's tactics and told the United Nations in response that "we are now in position with France, Australia, Canada, Turkey, and other coalition partners joining the campaign, to dramatically accelerate our efforts".

[87] News Limited reported that Turnbull "delivered a slap-down to Tony Abbott for lecturing European leaders over their refugee policies as he arrived in Berlin" to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

[94] In his first press conference as Treasurer, Scott Morrison indicated a reduction in government expenditure, and stated that the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) and White Paper on tax reform would arrive on time.

[96] The MYEFO was expected to include savings measures, as Morrison had stated that "any new spending must be fully offset", giving the examples of the Syrian refugee intake and Roads to Recovery.

[99] In June 2014, Abbott launched the Reform of the Federation white paper, with an eye to clarifying "roles and responsibilities for states and territories so that they are as far as possible, sovereign in their own sphere".

[105] Two days before the 2016 Council of Australian Governments' (COAG) meeting, Turnbull responded to a leaked report regarding his plans for reforms to income tax levying.

At a press conference at a Penrith football field, Turnbull announced a plan to hand the states income taxing powers, which he explained would be "the most fundamental reform to the federation in generations".

[125] Minister Cash also suggested that the government was considering denying American singer Chris Brown a visa due to his highly publicised domestic violence offence in 2009.

Ban reportedly expressed concern over the detention conditions in Australia's offshore processing centres, and encouraged Turnbull to reconsider Operation Sovereign Borders.

"[151] After taking office from Abbott, Turnbull boycotted the 2GB and 4BC radio networks, after he was criticised by their high-rating conservative commentators Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt, Ben Fordham and Ray Hadley.

"[158] Turnbull confirmed that his government would retain the Coalition policy of allowing Australians to vote in a non-binding plebiscite on same-sex marriage, loosely scheduled for late 2016.

[187] The government had been substantially and consistently trailing the Bill Shorten-led Labor opposition on the two-party-preferred vote for nearly two years, with Abbott and Shorten regularly swapping the lead for Preferred Prime Minister.

Mack also claimed that much of the electorate was angered that Hockey, who penned the "age of entitlement" speech, had forced a $1-million by-election within a year of the 2016 federal election, with the expectation of becoming the next Ambassador of Australia to the United States.

[203] In the last week of the campaign, the Liberal party room suffered from the defection of Ian Macfarlane to the National party room with accompanying demands for additional Nationals cabinet representation, and additionally, the Mal Brough James Ashby diary controversy deepened,[204][205] and combined with the unexpected by-election swing and Turnbull's significantly lessened personal ratings in the concurrent December Newspoll, some News Limited journalists opined Turnbull's honeymoon to be over.

[191][192][193] The April 2016 refusal of the Senate to pass the government's bill to re-establish an anti-corruption watchdog for the construction industry provided Turnbull with a double dissolution trigger.

[216] The refusal of the Senate to pass the government's bills provided Turnbull with a double dissolution trigger, and the matters formed part of the Coalition's push for re-election at the 2016 poll.

[221] The onus was moved from Centrelink needing to verify the information, to being on the individual to prove they did not owe the funds, with human interaction being very limited in the dispatch of the debt letters.

[229] In November, 2016, the president of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs voiced support for changes to 18C, saying that removing the words "offend" and "insult" and inserting "vilify" would strengthen the laws.

The Liberal Party moved to investigate and clarify Banks' citizenship status, as her seat in the House of Representatives is critical to the Turnbull government's one-seat majority.

[258][259] In late 2017, as a backlash against the legalisation of same sex marriage, the Nationals threatened to introduce a private members bill calling for a commission of inquiry into the banking system.