Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has been given an online moniker by some of ‘Jewellery Bigshop’ because of her Kardashian-like behaviour of chasing cameras. In 2007, when then Deputy Opposition Leader Julia Gillard appeared on the front cover of the Australian Weekend magazine and the ABC’s Life Etc magazine, Bishop said Gillard was behaving like a “fashion model or TV star… I don’t think it’s necessary to get dressed up in designer clothing and borrow clothing and make-up to grace the cover of magazines… You’re not a celebrity, you’re an elected representative, you’re a Member of Parliament. You’re not Hollywood and I think that when people overstep that line they miss the whole point of that public role”1. Bishop also said that posing for magazine covers was “not my style”2. Gillard retorted, labelling then Education Minister a “silly sausage” and “mistress of the trivial issue”1.
What has Bishop done since? She has chased cameras everywhere, and gives the impression that being Foreign Minister is only a part-time job. She has done a cover shoot for Harper’s Bazaar in November 2014; has been interviewed by Who magazine in December 2014; in 2015, it was Vogue2. Now, she has appeared on the September, 2018 cover of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Her hobby seems to be attending sporting events, especially polo and horseracing, as well as fashion shows, where she can be photographed with her fly-in fly-out toy boy (he is about seven years her junior), David Panton3. Bishop does not claim Panton as her partner, but nominates him for the purposes of ‘family travel’ (i.e. so taxpayers pay for his travel). This allows her to get her leg over, but not have to declare his assets on the declaration of interests4. Her hypocrisy knows no bounds, yet she is seen as the ‘cleanest’ contender for leadership of the Liberal Party, as Turnbull’s leadership seems to be in terminal decline, while the most prominent contender, Peter Dutton, is only marginally more popular among the general public than genital warts.
Sources
- https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/its-julie-vs-julia/news-story/5b73b913b115567a6550a76aab6dc713?sv=d8b398d66b9026dab28cbcff70b0f774
- https://theaimn.com/words-julie-bishop-youre-not-celebrity-youre-elected-representative/
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3394858/From-pharmacist-wine-maker-property-developer-life-Julie-Bishop-s-boyfriend-running-partner-actually-prefers-surfing-jogging.html
- http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/snouts-in-the-trough-again/
Poor teflon Julie. She never did get the chance to hold Putin to account for his minions taking the lives of innocent (Australian) air travellers. Still, in her defence she only had 4 years. If there has ever been a more vacuous do-nothing Foreign Minister I’ve yet to come across him/her. I once suggested in an unpublished letter to Fairfax SMH (gutless wonders) that Australia could solve the problems of boat arrivals by positioning hundreds of giant buoys around the northern coast with the heads of Dutton and Bishop starkly displayed. Figured that if that didn’t scare the living daylights out of them nothing would, in which case their bravery should be rewarded.
Jon,
They’d scare me!