Politics

Julie Bishop May Also Now Contest The Liberal Leadership

Who DOESN'T want to be Prime Minister these days?

by Sam Langford  23 August 2018
julie bishop

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Deputy leader of the Liberal Party Julie Bishop has now reportedly also thrown her hat into the ring to contest the party leadership, joining Peter Dutton and (probably) Scott Morrison as would-be Prime Ministers. This #LibSpill just keeps on escalating.

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Of course, we still need to actually make it to a spill first — as Malcolm Turnbull made clear earlier today, he has no intention of calling one until he receives the signatures of a majority of the Liberal Party. If and when Turnbull does receive those 43 signatures, he’s already announced he’ll step aside.

That leaves a couple of reported contenders fighting for the leadership: Peter Dutton, probably Scott Morrison, and now perhaps also Julie Bishop, who 7News and Fairfax report is doing the numbers to see whether she has the support.

And look, it may be a good move for her — she seems to be the least unpopular of the current challengers. A ReachTel poll from last night found that 38% of voters prefer Turnbull as Liberal leader, followed by Julie Bishop (29%), Peter Dutton (10%), and ScoMo (just 8.6%). As deputy leader of the Liberals since 2007, Bishop may also be able to deliver some much-needed stability.

Then again, it doesn’t seem to matter too much what voters want, because the Liberal Party are the ones making the decision, and its track record supporting women in leadership positions doesn’t inspire confidence.

Still, as this spill becomes more and more farcical, anything could happen — except for the government getting any real work done, it seems. As more and more candidates throw their hats in the ring, it becomes harder and harder to know who our Prime Minister will be a day, week or month from now.

Oh, and some people apparently still think Tony Abbott will put his hand up. Lol.