Julie Bishop

Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2007 to 2018.

Bishop was born on 17 July 1956 in Lobethal, South Australia.

She is the third of four children born to Isabel Mary (née Wilson) and Douglas Alan Bishop; she has two older sisters and a younger brother.

Bishop has described her parents as "classic Menzies Liberals".

Her father was a returned soldier and orchardist, while her mother's family were sheep and wheat farmers.

Both her mother and grandfather William Bishop were active in local government, serving terms as mayor of the East Torrens District Council.

Bishop grew up on an apple and cherry orchard in Basket Range.

The year before she was born, it was burned to the ground in the Black Sunday bushfires.

Bishop began her education at Basket Range Primary School and later attended St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School in Adelaide.

She was the head prefect in her final year.

Bishop went on to study law at the University of Adelaide.

She worked two part-time jobs as a barmaid while at university—one at Football Park and one at a pub in Uraidla.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978.

After graduating law school, Bishop joined Wallmans, an Adelaide-based law firm, as its first female articled clerk.

She left after less than a year, in part due to an incident where a senior partner asked her to perform waitressing duties.

In the late 1980s, Robinson Cox was hired by CSR Limited to defend against compensation claims brought by asbestos mining workers, who had contracted mesothelioma while working for Midalco, a subsidiary of CSR.

In 1982, aged 26, she became a partner in the firm of Mangan, Ey & Bishop.

The following year, she married West Australian property developer Neil Gillon, and moved to Perth.

On arriving in WA, Bishop joined Robinson Cox as a solicitor specialising in commercial litigation and was made a full partner in 1985.

According to Kerry Stokes, "in the legal profession she was a very determined, reasoned person [...] there's not been much written about what a good executive Julie was—responsible for administering and running a partnership, not just a lawyer".

She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Curtin from 1998 to 2019.

She was a delegate to the 1998 constitutional convention, and also served as a director of the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and as a member of the Murdoch University senate.

Bishop was elected to parliament at the 1998 federal election, representing the Division of Curtin in Perth's western suburbs.

In the Howard government, she served as Minister for Ageing (2003–2006), Minister for Education and Science (2006–2007), and Minister for Women (2006–2007).

After the Coalition lost the 2007 election, Bishop was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Party.

She was the first woman to hold the position, and was re-elected to the post at multiple leadership spills following her initial election.

During her time as deputy, there were three different Liberal leaders—Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull, and Tony Abbott.

When the Coalition returned to power at the 2013 election, Bishop was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Abbott government.

She was Australia's first female foreign minister.

Issues that arose during her tenure included changes to the Australian foreign aid program, the international military intervention against ISIL, the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and the execution of Australian citizens by Indonesia.

In August 2018, Peter Dutton challenged Turnbull for the leadership of the Liberal Party, due to dissatisfaction from the party's conservative wing.

Turnbull defeated Dutton in a leadership ballot, but tensions continued to mount and the party voted in favour of holding a second spill; Bishop chose to be a candidate.

In the second vote, Bishop was eliminated in the first round by Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison, with Morrison elected as party leader (and thus prime minister) in the second round.

She declined to retain the foreign affairs portfolio in the Morrison Ministry, instead moving to the backbench.

Bishop retired from politics on 11 April 2019, before the impending federal election.

She has been the chancellor of the Australian National University since January 2020.

Bishop was born in Lobethal, South Australia, and studied law at the University of Adelaide.

Prior to entering politics she worked as a commercial lawyer in Perth, Western Australia; she was the local managing partner of Clayton Utz.

On 1 January 2020, Bishop commenced her term as chancellor of the Australian National University.

She is the first woman to be in this position.