Bishop resigns as foreign minister
CANBERRA: You’d be hardpressed to accuse Julie Bishop of disloyalty. But it was disloyalty that ultimately ended her time at the highest level of government.
For more than 10 years, the West Australian lawyer with the killer stare and snappy suits was the Liberal Party’s second in command.
She served as deputy to three leaders, watching from close proximity as each got the knife.
But it was never Bishop bearing the fruits of the killing by stepping into the outgoing leader’s shoes.
Last Friday, after a turbulent week in the Liberal Party that ended with the end of Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership, she tried for the top job. But she fell well short.
It emerged yesterday she never had a hope, with moderates urging each other to put their votes behind Scott Morrison to stop Peter Dutton becoming prime minister.
Yesterday, the superfit 62yearold Bishop ran in Perth’s City to Surf race before announcing she was calling time on her successful tenure as foreign minister.
Her 20year career in federal politics will end when the next general election is called.
She entered Parliament at the 1998 election as Perth’s member for Curtin and that is where she opted to stay.
Though WA is her political homeground, Bishop was born to cherry farmers in Adelaide and attended the city’s St Peter’s Collegiate Girls’ School.
She studied law at Adelaide University and practised as both a solicitor and a barrister before moving to WA with her husband, property developer Neil Gillion.
They later divorced but Bishop stayed put.
Years later in Parliament, Labor would query Bishop’s role during her legal days in defending building product company CSR from compensation claims by asbestos victims.
She claimed she only acted in accordance with her client’s instructions and on advice from some of WA’s most senior barristers.
Turnbull yesterday paid tribute to his deputy, thanking her for her loyalty and friendship.
‘‘Today we have lost Australia’s finest Foreign Minister @JulieBishopMP,’’ he tweeted.
‘‘She has been and remains an inspiring role model for women here and around the world.’’
Former prime minister and foreign minister Kevin Rudd also tweeted that Bishop had been a highly effective Australian foreign minister, who ‘‘ . . . has earned, absolutely, the respect of foreign ministers around the world’’. — AAP