 Malcolm Turnbull was elected to the House of Representatives in the 2004 federal election . In January 2007 he was appointed Minister for the Environment and Water Resources by Prime Minister John Howard . After the Australian Labor Party defeated the Howard government in the 2007 election , Turnbull , Brendan Nelson and Tony Abbott announced they would each contest the Liberal Party leadership . Nelson defeated Turnbull in a ballot after Abbott withdrew his candidacy . Turnbull became the Shadow Treasurer on Nelson 's frontbench . 
