Bishop derides Canberra ‘circus’
JULIE Bishop has weighed into the debate about bullying in Federal Parliament, saying she’s witnessed behaviour in Canberra that wouldn’t be tolerated in any other workplace across Australia.
Speaking at a Women’s Weekly event in Sydney, Ms Bishop described the “embarrassing circus” in the nation’s capital, saying politicians showed contempt for each other and were “applauded”.
“Politics is robust, the very nature of it, it’s not for the faint-hearted,” Ms Bishop said on Wednesday.
“I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in Parliament, the kind of behaviour that 20 years ago when I was managing partner of a law firm of 200 employees I would never have accepted.”
MP Julia Banks and Senator Lucy Gichuhi both say they were subjected to bullying and intimidation from male colleagues during last month’s Liberal leadership spill.
The behaviour prompted Ms Banks to quit Parliament, and Ms Bishop questioned why her party had trouble attracting and attaining women.
“When a feisty, amazing woman like Julia Banks says this environment is not for me, don’t say ‘toughen up princess’, say ‘enough is enough’.”
Ousted prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s daughter weighed in on Ms Bishop’s speech, saying it would be “very hard to raise daughters and tell them to look to the Liberal Party for strong female role models”.
“I have never been a fan of quotas but they may be the Libs’ only hope to win back female supporters,” Daisy Turnbull Brown wrote on Twitter.
Ms Bishop’s replacement as deputy Liberal leader, Josh Frydenberg, acknowledged the atmosphere inside Parliament House was often too confrontational.