Julie Bishop

For the American actress, see Julie Bishop (actress).

The Honourable Julie Bishop MP
Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Incumbent
Assumed office 3 December 2007
Leader	Brendan Nelson Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 February 2009
Leader	Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott
Preceded by	Helen Coonan
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 November 2007
Leader	Brendan Nelson Malcolm Turnbull Tony Abbott
Preceded by	Peter Costello
Shadow Treasurer of Australia
In office 22 September 2008 – 16 February 2009
Leader	Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded by	Malcolm Turnbull
Succeeded by	Joe Hockey
Minister for Education, Science and Training
In office 24 January 2006 – 3 December 2007
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Brendan Nelson
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard (Education) Kim Carr (Innovation, Industry, Science and Research)
Member of the Australian Parliament for Curtin
Incumbent
Assumed office 1998
Preceded by	Allan Rocher
Majority	13.57%
Personal details
Born	(1956-07-17) 17 July 1956 Lobethal, South Australia
Political party	Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	Neil Gillion (1983-1988)
Alma mater	University of Adelaide Harvard University
Religion	Anglicanism

Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian politician and the current Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Australia. She holds this title as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. She is the party's first female Deputy Leader and the third woman in Australian history to hold the title of Deputy Leader of the Opposition. She is currently the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Shadow Minister for Trade.

She has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since 1998, representing the seat of Curtin in Western Australia. She was a minister in the Howard government until the defeat of the Liberal/National Coalition at the election held on 24 November 2007. On 27 November 2007, she announced she was running for the position of Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. She won the ballot on 29 November 2007 and became the party's first female Deputy Leader.

Biography

Julie Bishop in 2007

Julie Bishop was born in Lobethal, South Australia, and was educated at the St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School and the University of Adelaide. She graduated from the University of Adelaide with a Bachelor of Laws in 1978, and subsequently practised as a barrister and solicitor at the Adelaide law firm Mangan, Ey & Bishop, where she was a partner. In 1983 Bishop married property developer Neil Gillion, however they divorced five years later. Bishop has not remarried since. She relocated to Perth after getting married where she practised as a commercial litigation solicitor at Robinson Cox (now Clayton Utz). She became a partner of Clayton Utz in 1985, and managing partner of the Perth office in 1994. In 1996 she attended Harvard Business School in Boston and completed the eight week Advanced Management Program for Senior Managers.

Bishop was Chair of the Town Planning Appeal Tribunal of Western Australia, a Senate Member of Murdoch University, a director of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and a director and fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. She has also served on the Council of Governors of the Lions Ear and Hearing Institute.

Member of Parliament

Bishop won pre-selection for the Liberal Party for the seat of Curtin, Western Australia in 1998, and went on to win the seat at the federal election later that year against the sitting member and former Liberal turned independent, Allan Rocher, who had held the seat since 1981.

Following the Liberals' February 2001 State election loss by Richard Court to Geoff Gallop, Bishop was mooted as a possible contender for the leader of the state opposition. Initially Court had announced that he would stay on as opposition leader, but had secretly negotiated a deal under which she would leave the Federal Parliament and factional opponent Colin Barnett would move to Canberra. The deal soon collapsed, however, with Court resigning and Bishop declaring that the arrangement wasn't bizarre, but "... innovative, different." Barnett took over the position.

Minister in the Howard Government

Bishop was appointed Minister for Ageing in 2003. She was later promoted to Minister for Education, Science and Training and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues in the cabinet reshuffle on 24 January 2006 and served in those positions until the defeat of the Coalition government at the federal election held on 24 November 2007.

Bishop's education policies centred on the development of national education standards as well as performance-based pay for teachers. On 13 April 2007, the Australian State Governments expressed opposition to Bishop's policies, notably those relating to performance pay. In the 2007 Budget, the Federal Government announced a $5b "endowment fund" for higher education, with an express goal of providing world-class tertiary institutions in Australia.

Some of Bishop's comments, such as "the states have ideologically hijacked school syllabi and are wasting $180 million in unnecessary duplication" have been criticised by teachers. An advance media kit for a recent speech claimed parts of the present curriculum came "straight from Chairman Mao", however the reference was dropped from her speech.

Shadow Ministry and Deputy Liberal Leader

Bishop with Malcolm Turnbull (centre) and Helen Coonan (left) in July 2009.

Following the Coalition's loss at the 2007 election, Bishop was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Party under Brendan Nelson on 29 November 2007. In a ballot of Liberal party room members, Bishop prevailed with 44 votes, one more than the combined total of her two competitors: Andrew Robb (25 votes) and Christopher Pyne (18 votes). On 22 September, Bishop was offered the role of Shadow Treasurer by Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, making her the first woman to hold the portfolio of any major party at the federal level. On 16 February 2009, she resigned from the position of Shadow Treasurer, due to dissatisfaction within Liberal ranks over her performance. Bishop moved to Foreign Affairs, while maintaining her position of Deputy Leader; the shadow treasury portfolio was taken over by Joe Hockey. On 1 December 2009, Tony Abbott was elected leader. Bishop retained the deputy role.

In 2010 Bishop defended the suspected forgery of Australian passports by Mossad, saying that many countries practiced the forging of passports for intelligence operations, including Australia. The government attacked Bishop over the statements, saying she had "broken a long-standing convention" in not speculating about intelligence practices. She later clarified her statement, saying "I have no knowledge of any Australian authority forging any passports of any nation."

Bishop retained the role of Deputy Leader without challenge following the Coalition's narrow loss in the 2010 federal election, and retained the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Shadow Minister for Trade.

External links

• Personal website
• Search or browse Hansard for Julie Bishop at OpenAustralia.org

Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Allan Rocher	Member of Parliament for Curtin 1998–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Kevin Andrews	Minister for Ageing 2003–2006	Succeeded by Santo Santoro
Preceded by Brendan Nelson	Minister for Education, Science, and Training 2006–2007	Succeeded by Julia Gillard as Minister for Education
		Succeeded by Kim Carr as Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
Preceded by Kay Patterson	Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues 2006–2007	Succeeded by Tanya Plibersek as Minister for the Status of Women
Preceded by Julia Gillard	Deputy Leader of the Opposition 2007–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Malcolm Turnbull	Shadow Treasurer of Australia 2008–2009	Succeeded by Joe Hockey
Preceded by Helen Coonan	Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs 2009–present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Peter Costello	Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party 2007–present	Incumbent