The Honourable  Julie Bishop  LLB MP
Deputy Opposition Leader
Incumbent
Assumed office  29 November 2007
Preceded by	Julia Gillard
Constituency	Curtin
Majority	13.57%[1]
Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia
Incumbent
Assumed office  29 November 2007
Preceded by	Peter Costello
Minister for Education, Science and Training
In office 24 January 2006 – 3 December 2007
Preceded by	Brendan Nelson
Succeeded by	Julia Gillard
Born	17 July 1956 (1956-07-17) (age 53)
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Religion	Anglican

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.^[2] 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 Opposition's Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.

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.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Member of Parliament 2.1 Minister in the Howard Government 2.2 Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party 3 Shadow Minister 2008 4 Shadow Minister 2009 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Biography

Bishop was born in Lobethal, South Australia, and was educated at the St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School, the University of Adelaide and the Harvard Business School. 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.^[3] Bishop has not remarried since. She relocated to Perth after getting married where she practiced 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 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.^[4]

[edit] Member of Parliament

Bishop won pre-selection for the seat of Curtin, Western Australia in 1998, and went on to win the seat for the Liberal Party 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^[4]. 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.^[5] The deal soon collapsed however with Court resigning and Bishop declaring that the arrangement wasn't bizarre, but "... innovative, different."^[4] Barnett took over the position.

[edit] 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^[6]. 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.^[7]

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.^[8][9][10]

[edit] Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party

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 caucus 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).^[11]

[edit] Shadow Minister 2008

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^[12]. The shadow treasury portfolio was taken over by Joe Hockey, while Bishop moved to Foreign Affairs, whilst maintaining her position of Deputy Leader.^[13] On 1 December 2009, Tony Abbott was elected leader. Bishop retained the deputy role and pledged her loyalty to Abbott.

[edit] Shadow Minister 2009

"I am pleased that the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Julie Bishop MP, has elected to retain the Shadow Foreign Affairs portfolio. Julie will continue to build on her hard work over the past year in this portfolio and ensure that the Coalition maintains its relationships with the diplomatic community in Australia and with our key neighbours and allies."
- Tony Abbott 8 December 2009. ^[14]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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

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 (education} Kim Carr (science)
Preceded by Kay Patterson	Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues 2006 – 2007	Succeeded by Tanya Plibersek
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Allan Rocher	Member for Curtin 1998 – present	Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Peter Costello	Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 2007 – present	Incumbent

v • d • e Current Members of the Australian House of Representatives from Western Australia Labor Gary Gray · Sharryn Jackson · Melissa Parke · Stephen Smith Liberal Julie Bishop · Barry Haase · Steve Irons · Dennis Jensen · Michael Keenan · Nola Marino · Judi Moylan · Don Randall · Luke Simpkins · Wilson Tuckey · Mal Washer

Persondata
NAME	Bishop, Julie Isabel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Australian politician
DATE OF BIRTH	17 July 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH	Lobethal, South Australia
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH