Julie Bishop Has Unloaded On The “Appalling” Behaviour Of Her Fellow Politicians
Julie Bishop has zero fucks left to give.
Former Liberal Deputy Leader Julie Bishop has slammed the “appalling” behaviour of her fellow politicians, and said the public was justified in feeling “contempt” for their elected representatives, in her first public address since moving to the backbench.
Nearly two weeks after the Liberal leadership vomit typhoon in which Bishop was overlooked in favour of Scott Morrison, the the former Foreign Minister told the crowd at the Women’s Weekly awards in Sydney that the behaviour she has witnessed in Canberra would not be acceptable in other workplaces.
“I have seen and witnessed and experienced some appalling behaviour in Parliament, the kind of behaviour that 20 years ago when I was managing partner of a law firm of 200 employees I would never have accepted,” Bishop said.
“Yet in Parliament it’s the norm. And we are adults, grown people – we have to take responsibility for our personal behaviour. Every single one of us.”
On recent allegations of bullying within the Liberal Party, Bishop said recent events had prompted discussions on “bullying, intimidation, harassment and coercion” and the “unfair unequal treatment of women”.
“When a feisty, amazing woman like Julia Banks says this environment is not for me, don’t say ‘toughen up princess’, say ‘enough is enough’,” she added.
Bishop was critical of her own party for failing to support women.
“It’s not acceptable for our party to contribute to the fall in Australia’s ratings, from 15th in the world in terms of female parliamentary representation in 1999, to 50th today,” she said. “Our party, in fact all parties, recognise they have a problem in attracting and maintaining women, diversity in general.”
She also singled out the behaviour of politicians during Question Time, calling it “an embarrassing circus”.
“I believe this televised theatre does more damage to the Parliament than virtually any other issue,” she said. “The more you sledge, the more you ridicule, the more you’re applauded.”
“When we politicians show such contempt for each other, aren’t the public justified in feeling contempt for all of us?”