Sydney  - Malcolm Turnbull, elected Tuesday as the leader of Australia's opposition Liberal Party, is the conservative politician from central casting: well-groomed, well-educated, well-connected and, well, rich.

He's the wealthiest member of the Canberra Parliament, thanks to a career in business that saw him start information-technology companies and rise to the top at the local arm of the US-based brokerage Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

His years as a master of the corporate universe came after a spell in journalism and as a lawyer.

Turnbull, elected to Parliament in 2004, was environment minister when John Howard unsuccessfully sought a fifth election victory in November.

On his first day as Liberal leader, Turnbull, 53, was keen to talk up his credentials and talk down his background.

"I know what it's like to be very short of money," Turnbull told party colleagues who had just dumped Brendan Nelson. "I know what it's like to live in rented flats. I know what it's like to grow up with a single parent, with no support other than a devoted and loyal father."

It's true. Turnbull had humble beginnings. The first rented flat had no furniture. His father, an electrician, sacrificed so his son could go to a good school. Scholarships ensured him law degrees from Sydney University and Oxford University.

Turnbull came to public notice as a barrister, successfully defending the right of a retired British spy, Peter Wright, to publish a memoir called Spycatcher.

There was more celebrity to come when Turnbull led a push to have the last links to the British monarchy severed and Australia declared a republic. That was 1999, and the proposition was defeated in a referendum.

A relative latecomer to party politics, Turnbull set out his stall as a classic liberal - against big government, for personal freedoms.

"We know our job is to empower and enable the enterprise, the dreams, the ambitions of Australians, of all Australians, and that is what I commit myself to doing today as the leader of the Liberal Party, as the leader of the opposition," he told a party that spurned his first tilt at its leadership nine months ago.

John Hewson, a former Liberal leader, is among those warning that intellectual arrogance could be Turnbull's undoing.

"There's a lot of focus on what Malcolm's achieved, but I can tell you from my own experience that whatever you've achieved in the past is no guarantee of success in politics," he said.

Howard's conservative coalition was hammered at the last election, losing 22 seats to Kevin Rudd's resurgent Labor Party. Rudd is still riding high in the polls and was expected to be a formidable opponent at a general election two years away.

Turnbull is presenting himself as a politician who understands the economy and finance - a man for the moment.

"Labor claims to be superior economic managers," he said, "but we are presently facing probably the gravest economic crisis globally in our lifetimes."

Tim Costello, the head of the charity World Vision and a colleague in the republican push, said Turnbull's "vaulting intelligence" could sometimes alienate others.

"Back then, he really had a very bruising approach," Costello said. "It was 'I know what's going to work here, and if you apply yourself for long enough, you'll see it too.'"

Astute as ever, Turnbull recognized and addressed the one-man-band criticism in his first speech as leader.

"We will be a united, cohesive team, one that draws on the abilities and the intellect, the ideas and the energy of every member of our parliamentary party and reaches out beyond that," Turnbull said. (dpa)