Julie Bishop

Prior to the 1998 federal election, Bishop won Liberal preselection for the Division of Curtin, which takes in Perth's western suburbs. Her preselection bid received the support of Premier Richard Court, who had earmarked her as a future member of federal cabinet.[12] The seat had been held for 17 years by Allan Rocher, who was a personal friend of Prime Minister John Howard but had left the Liberals in 1995 to sit as an independent. Howard did not want the Liberals to run a candidate against Rocher, and refused to campaign for Bishop; however, Peter Costello and Alexander Downer both supported her candidacy and Costello launched her campaign.[17] At the election, she reclaimed the seat for the Liberals with a large swing in her favour.[6]

After the Liberal Party lost the 2001 state election in Western Australia, Bishop was suggested by multiple media sources as a possible replacement for Richard Court as state Liberal leader (and thus Leader of the Opposition).[17] It was later confirmed that Court favoured an arrangement where he and his deputy and factional rival, Colin Barnett, would resign their seats in the Legislative Assembly. Bishop would resign from federal Parliament and hand her seat to Barnett, and Court would hand the leadership of the WA Liberals to Bishop once she was safely in the state legislature by way of winning either Court or Barnett's old seats, both of which were within Curtin's boundaries and were comfortably safe for the Liberals.[18][19] However, Bishop eventually rejected the deal.[17]

Bishop while Education Minister in 2007

Bishop was appointed Minister for Ageing by Prime Minister John Howard in 2003. She was later promoted to Minister for Education and Science and Minister for Women in 2006 and served in those positions until the defeat of the Howard Government at the 2007 federal election.

As education minister, Bishop's policies centred on the development of national education standards as well as performance-based pay for teachers.[20] On 13 April 2007, the Australian State Governments jointly expressed opposition to Bishop's pay policy. In the 2007 budget, the Federal Government announced a $5 billion "endowment fund" for higher education, with the expressed goal of providing world-class tertiary institutions in Australia.[21] Some of Bishop's public comments on education, including the remark that "the states have ideologically hijacked school syllabi and are wasting $180 million in unnecessary duplication", were criticised by teachers. An advance media kit for a 2006 speech claimed parts of the contemporary curriculum came "straight from Chairman Mao"; the remark was dropped from her speech.[22][23]

One of Bishop's first steps after being appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs was to introduce sweeping changes to the Australian foreign aid program. These changes included abolition of the Australian foreign aid agency, AusAID, and extensive expenditure cuts.[43]

The new government was sworn into office on 18 September 2013. Incoming Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the same day that AusAID would be integrated into the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT). The news of the proposed integration had been conveyed by Bishop to senior AusAID staff some days earlier.[44] The official explanation for the integration of AusAID into DFAT was that “Integration will enable DFAT to better pursue Australia’s national interests by ensuring closer alignment and mutually reinforcing linkages among the Government’s aid, foreign affairs and trade efforts.”[45]

The impact of the integration on the quality of Australia's aid program led to considerable debate.[46] Sceptics pointed to the departure of a considerable number of experienced aid professionals from the former AusAID while the process of integration was taking place and argued that the culture and priorities of DFAT were not supportive of a quality aid program. Those in favour of the change argued that closer alignment with foreign affairs would ensure that the aid program was more relevant and would provide better value for money.[47]

Subsequently, Bishop announced substantial expenditure cuts in the aid program. In Opposition, the Liberal Party had publicly endorsed the aim of maintaining the Australian aid budget at the level of 0.5% of GDP.[48] Aid spending amounted to around $5.0 billion in 2014/15. However budget cuts introduced after the new government took office led to marked reductions. Expenditure was reduced to around $4.2 billion in 2015/16. Further reductions were introduced in following years. Aid spending as a share of GDP fell from 0.32% in 2014/15 to an estimated 0.23% in 2018/19.[49]

Months after the Abbott Government took office, Bishop announced the implementation of a New Colombo Plan which would provide undergraduate students with funding to study in several different locations within the Indo-Pacific. The plan started off in pilot form and after initial success the full program was rolled out in 2015.[50]

Bishop with US Secretary of State John Kerry

In a 2015 speech explaining the Australian Government's measures against ISIS, Bishop compared the psychological underpinnings of ISIS with that of Nazism. Citing Eric Hoffer's seminal work The True Believer, she argued that the declared Caliphate drew from the same source that drove the masses to support Hitler; "Invincibility was—until the US-led airstrikes—all part of its attraction."[51]

In October 2014, Man Haron Monis wrote to Attorney-General George Brandis asking if he (Monis) could contact the leader of ISIS, two months before he took hostages in the Sydney siege. On 28 May 2015, Bishop told Parliament that the letter was provided to a review of the siege, before correcting the record three days later.[52][53]

Bishop meeting United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon in November 2014

Although Bishop fought against the Gillard Government's campaign to gain Australia a temporary two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council, she was widely lauded for her commanding performance when representing Australia on the Council in her capacity as Foreign Minister. She negotiated a successful resolution that was adopted by the Council in regards to gaining full access to the crash site of Flight MH17.[54]

During the month of November 2014, Bishop chaired the Security Council and led meeting to discuss the threat of foreign fights, UN peacekeeping and the Ebola epidemic.[54] Later, Bishop led negotiations to pass a resolution to set up an independent criminal tribunal into the downing of Flight MH17. Although Russia vetoed the resolution, Bishop was widely praised by other delegates for her work and for her strong statement following the veto that "the anticipated excuses and obfuscation by the Russian Federation should be treated with the utmost disdain".[55]

Bishop with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Saadabad Palace

In April 2015, Bishop paid an official visit to Iran, following the conclusion of a visit to India. She was the first Australian government minister to visit the country since 2003, having been personally invited by Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. They discussed the proposed nuclear deal and issues relating to Iranian asylum seekers in Australia.[56] Bishop wore a headscarf or a hat for the duration of her visit, and did not shake hands with male dignitaries in order to avoid offending local sensibilities. She received some criticism for doing so, with Andrew Bolt rhetorically asking whether she should have "subjugated herself" to Islamic law. Head coverings are not mandatory for foreign women visiting Iran. In response, she said: "As a matter of fact I wear scarves and hats and headgear quite often as part of my everyday wear".[57][58]

In early September 2017, as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar became ethnic cleansing, Bishop said that Australia was deeply concerned by the escalating violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State and would provide up to A$5 million to help Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.[59][60] In 2018, Bishop called "for an end to the violence, for full and unhindered humanitarian access … and a full and transparent accountability of the human rights abuses".[61] She also said that Australia's relationship with Myanmar Army "is designed to help promote positive change in Myanmar".[62]

Bishop was involved at the highest level of negotiations with the Indonesian Government in attempts to save the lives of convicted drug smugglers Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. Demonstrating Australia's opposition to the death penalty, Bishop was widely applauded for the manner in which she conducted negotiations. This was in stark contrast to the criticism faced by Tony Abbott who was ridiculed for remarks he made in regards to foreign aid provided by Australia to Indonesia. Despite the Government's efforts, both Chan and Sukumaran were executed in April 2015.[63] As a result of the executions, Bishop recalled the Australian Ambassador from Indonesia in condemnation of their decision.[63]

By August 2015, Bishop stated that Australia's relationship with Indonesia was "back on track" after privately meeting with the Indonesian Foreign Minister to discuss the fallout from the executions.[64]

In May 2018, Geoff Raby, a former Australian Ambassador to China, criticised Bishop's handling of Australia–China relations, stating she had neglected the relationship between the countries and had angered Chinese leaders with "strident public comments on the South China Sea" and a speech questioning China's regional leadership. He called on Malcolm Turnbull to "replace the Foreign Minister with someone better equipped for the demands of the job". In response, Bishop said that Raby was "profoundly ignorant [...] about the level of engagement between Australia and China at present and the state of the relationship", and that he had not spoken to her or her office in several years. Turnbull said the opinion piece was "utterly wrong" and described Bishop as "a formidable foreign minister, a great diplomat and a great colleague".[65]

On 26 August, Bishop issued a statement indicating that she would resign as Minister for Foreign Affairs.[66] She was replaced by Senator Marise Payne on 28 August 2018.[67]

In February 2015, in response to rising criticisms of his leadership, Tony Abbott called a spill of leadership positions. Both Julie Bishop and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull were reported by the media as considering challenging for the leadership. Opinion poll results consistently showed that both Bishop and Turnbull were preferred by the public to Abbott.[68] Eventually a motion to move a leadership spill fell by 61 votes to 39, and Abbott consequentially remained in office.[69]

On 14 September 2015, Malcolm Turnbull challenged Tony Abbott for the leadership of the Liberal Party. After Turnbull was successfully elected, Bishop defeated a challenge from Kevin Andrews to retain her position as Deputy Leader by 70 votes to 30.[70] Hours before Turnbull's challenge, Bishop had visited Abbott to advise him he had lost the confidence of the Parliamentary Liberal Party. She is said to have intended to vote for Abbott in the leadership vote until he declared her position vacant as well as his, after which she voted for Turnbull.[71] Bishop was retained as Foreign Minister following the formation of the Turnbull Government.

On 21 August 2018, Malcolm Turnbull called a leadership spill and defeated challenger Peter Dutton by 48 votes to 35. The deputy leadership was also declared vacant, with Bishop re-elected as deputy leader unopposed. Over the following days, there was widespread speculation about a second spill being called, and multiple media outlets reported on 23 August that Bishop would be a candidate for the leadership if that eventuated.[72] A second spill was called on 24 August, and Bishop was eliminated on the first ballot with 11 votes out of 85 (or 12.9 percent). Morrison was elected leader over Dutton on the second ballot, and Josh Frydenberg was chosen as deputy leader. Bishop is the first woman to formally stand for the leadership of the Liberal Party, and only the second woman to stand for the leadership of one of Australia's two major parties, after the Labor Party's Julia Gillard.[73]

During the internal debate on same-sex marriage which divided the Liberal Party in August 2015, Bishop refused to publicly declare her personal views on the matter. However, her statement that she was "very liberally minded" on the topic was taken by many to be an allusion towards support of same-sex marriage.[77] In a television interview in November 2015, Bishop confirmed that she supported same-sex marriage.[78][79]

In August 2015, Bishop spoke in favour of holding a plebiscite on the matter, believing that the issue should be put to a democratic vote so that it could no longer distract from the government's policy agenda. This ultimately became the policy adopted by the government.[80] Following the postal plebiscite in 2017, which resulted in a "Yes" vote, Bishop stated that she had voted in support of same-sex marriage.[81]