THE BUSINESS
Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has carved herself a lucrative globetrotting career post politics, mixing high finance with high fashion. Her frenetic Instagram feed tells the story: one day she’s promoting department store David Jones, propped outside its Adelaide branch in a designer frock, the next she’s at a mining event in Perth chatting about the “geostrategic impact of critical minerals, geopolitics and WA’s place in the world”.
Then there’s roles at one of the world’s most prestigious foreign affairs think tanks, the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, chairing the Australian arm of King Charles’s charity, The Prince’s Trust – a gig that got her an invitation to the coronation – and the chancellorship of Canberra’s Australian National University. That’s before taking in private sector roles that include her lobbying business, Julie Bishop & Partners, giving strategic advice to Perth mining services company Mineral Resources and a controversial stint on the board of global aid contracting giant Palladium.
Not that all the private sector gigs have gone well – she was also an adviser to the Greensill financial empire run by Bundaberg sugar farmer Lex Greensill until shortly before it imploded, and has also served as an adviser to artificial intelligence company Afiniti, whose founder was forced to step down after he was accused of sexual assault. It’s a life that involves juggling four portfolios: fashion, lobbying, corporate advisory and community work.
FASHION JULIE WHO:
David Jones, Estee Lauder
WHAT SHE GETS: free clothes and front rows at fashion shows
Before her surprise resignation from parliament in 2019, Bishop op was one of Australia’s busiest and most visible MPs, sporting a register of interests littered with big events (the Rio Olympics and the AFL Grand Final) as well as fashion freebies from the likes of bag brand The Daily Edited and sportswear company 2XU.
The fashion theme has carried on post-politics. Bishop signed on as “friend of David Jones” – what other chains might call a “brand ambassador” or “face of” – on International Women’s Day in March.
The department store marked the occasion with a glowing blog post that described the former pollie as “an icon of enduring elegance” and featured her in a glam fashion shoot dressed in duds by top designers including Toni Maticevski and Rebecca Vallance.
She’s also in a “partnership” with US makeup brand Estee Lauder, demonstrating its products in a video on her Instagram.
In an appearance on the In
Fashion podcast in May, Bishop said her “Minister for Fashion” reputation was “used as a political weapon against me” during her time in parliament.
“But I absolutely embraced it, loved it,” she said.
She said she was now embracing the fashion freedom of life after politics, including the perks of being styled and dressed by the industry’s best.
“I don’t have to wear my own clothes – I can promote other designers,” Bishop said.
LOBBYIST JULIE WHO: Twinza Oil WHAT SHE GETS:
fees
Bishop hung out her lobbyist shingle in April 2020 as Julie Bishop & Partners, roping in her former ministerial chief of staff Murray Hansen.
According to the federal government’s
a“It’s life that involves juggling four portfolios: fashion, lobbying, corporate advisory and community work.
register of lobbyists, s, it has just one client, Twinza Oil.
It’s not clear what JB&P does for Twinza, which declined to comment.
The company was involved in Myanmar, a situation ion that would definitely ely benefit from the touch uch of a former foreign minister, nister, but hasn’t been there for or years. years These days it has a couple of oil prospects it’s keen on developing in PNG.
ADVISER JULIE Palladium, Afiniti, Greensill Capital, Mineral Resources fees
WHO:
WHAT SHE GETS:
Bishop caused a political storm when she became a non-executive director of Palladium Group, one of the biggest aid contractors in the world, just four months after leaving politics.
The move was controversial because Palladium is one of the Australian government’s biggest aid contractors – the official tenders database shows that it has reaped more than $3bn in revenue from the commonwealth over the past 20 years.
However, corporate filings here and in the US indicate Bishop and other Australian directors, including former rugby player John Eales and corporate veteran Ann Sherry, quit the board in September 2020 after recommending a $195.5m takeover by Palladium’s management.
She’s also a “strategic adviser” to Perth-based mining services company Mineral Resources – a role
that included hosting a video introduction to the company’s new headquarters last year.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Bishop remains on the advisory board of artificial intelligence firm Afiniti. Former British PM David Cameron was chair of the advisory board but quit in November 2021 after the company’s founder, Zia Chishti, was accused of sexual assault, and it was widely speculated that Bishop would follow suit.
She quit another role alongside Cameron, advising finance group Greensill Capital, well before the company collapsed in March 2021 – but not before collecting a pay packet reportedly worth $600,000 a year.
Bishop wasn’t available for an interview on her advisory roles and broader business interests, and nor did she answer written questions.
COMMUNITY JULIE
WHO: Telethon, Council On Foreign Affairs, Australian National University, The Prince’s Trust, Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation
WHAT SHE GETS: a warm inner glow Bishop’s world is not all cash and catwalks. She’s also active in the community and charity sectors, chairing WA’s Telethon Kids
Institute, which researches childhood illnesses and is based at the Perth Children’s Hospital, and the Australian arm of the King’s charity, the Prince’s Trust.
Neither gig is paid, although the Prince’s Trust role earned her an invitation to the coronation, where she snapped herself with Lionel Richie (and posted it to Instagram).
As an ambassador for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, Bishop has taken to raising money by auctioning off what she says are “quite flamboyant dresses” she wears in “the most unlikely of situations” – from lithium mines to beaches – to attract media attention.
Bishop is also paid $75,000 a year as chancellor of Canberra’s Australian National University.
In America, she’s a member of the Council on Foreign Affairs global board of advisers – a group that exists to provide the think tank “with insight about their regions and also offers a mechanism for members of the GBA to join discussions on international relations and the US role in the world”.