Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop (née Setright; born 19 October 1942) is an Australian former politician who served as the 29th speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015, during the Abbott government. Her service of almost 30 years as a member of the federal parliament is the longest of any woman in Australia. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, she served as a senator for New South Wales from 1987 to 1994 after which she became the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Mackellar from 1994 to 2016. During her time in parliament she served as the minister for Defence Industry from 1996 to 1998 and minister for Aged Care from 1998 to 2001 under Prime Minister John Howard.
Bishop was born in Sydney and worked as a lawyer before entering politics. She served as state president of the New South Wales Liberals from 1985 to 1987, and then won election to the Senate at the 1987 federal election. She became the state's second female senator and the first to be popularly elected. In 1994 Bishop switched to the House of Representatives, winning a by-election for the Division of Mackellar. She was a shadow minister under John Hewson, Alexander Downer, and John Howard.
In 1996 Bishop was appointed Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel in the newly elected Howard government. She was made Minister for Aged Care in 1998, but lost her place in the ministry after the 2001 election. Bishop returned to the shadow ministry after the Liberal–National Coalition lost the 2007 election. In 2013, following the election of the Abbott government, she was elected Speaker of the House, becoming the first non-Labor woman to hold the post. She resigned in mid-2015 after being caught in the centre of a travel-expenses scandal, and was defeated for Liberal preselection at the 2016 election, ending her parliamentary career. Since 2016, she has been a political commentator at Sky News Live.
Early years and education Bronwyn Kathleen Setright was born on 19 October 1942 at the Mater Hospital in North Sydney. Her father, Thomas Francis Setright (1909–1999), was an engineer, and her mother was Kathleen Annie Congreve (1912–1986), an opera singer who worked as a dramatic soprano at the Australian Opera Company. As a child, Bishop was sent to singing lessons by her mother.
Bishop was educated at Roseville Public School, completing her primary education in 1954. She then attended secondary school at Cremorne Girls High School, graduating in 1959. In 1960, Bishop enrolled in a five-year Bachelor of Laws program at the Sydney Law School, University of Sydney. However, she was deemed ineligible to continue her studies at the university after failing a number of subjects multiple times.David Leser, Bronwyn Bishop: A Woman in Pursuit of Power (1994, Text Publishing, Melbourne), 21–22. Bishop failed a total of 11 subjects over six years. In her first year in 1960, she failed all four core subjects. In 1964, she failed four subjects again and repeated them in 1965, in which she failed three again. The policy of the University of Sydney at the time was that a student was required to show cause why they should be allowed to repeat a subject for a third time, and Bishop was deemed ineligible to continue.
During her university years, Bishop was not involved in student politics but was a member of the Killara branch of the Young Liberals. After leaving university, Bishop used the university subjects she had passed to apply for the Solicitors’ Admission Board (now the Legal Profession Admission Board) and was admitted to practise law as a solicitor in New South Wales in 1967. Bishop first worked as an articled clerk and then as a solicitor from 1967. She played an acting role as a barrister in the 1960s Australian television program Divorce Court.
Politics
Having formed an ambition to become a politician, she joined the Liberal Party at the age of 17.
Heavily involved in organised politics, Bishop joined Killara Young Liberals in 1961 and during her association with that branch, she became vice-president. She first became a Liberal Party office-holder in 1973 as president of the Balmoral branch and was later elected as the chairman of the Liberal Party Convention Committee from 1981 to 1985 and as the first female president of the NSW Liberals from 1985 to 1987.
She is formerly a member of the National Right faction of the Liberal Party.
Senator (1987–1994) At the 1987 federal election, Bishop was elected to the Senate in the fifth position on the Coalition's ticket in New South Wales. She was effectively a one-to-one replacement for Sir John Carrick, who was retiring from politics. She was the second woman to serve as a senator for New South Wales, and the first to be popularly elected; Sue West had been appointed to a casual vacancy a few months earlier, but had failed to retain her seat. Bishop was elevated to the shadow ministry by Andrew Peacock in 1989, as Shadow Minister for Public Administration, Federal Affairs and Local Government (1989–1990). She proved an aggressive debater against the Australian Labor Party, particularly with Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, who during one debate in 1992 exclaimed to the chamber "I am reminded of the exchange I heard recently in Parliament House when someone said, 'Why do so many people take an instant dislike to Senator Bishop?' to which the answer was, 'It saves time'."
Move to the House of Representatives After the Coalition lost the 1993 election, speculation began to mount over John Hewson's future as leader of the Liberal Party. From that time through to early 1994, a series of opinion polls showed Bishop to be among the most popular politicians in the country. She consistently polled ahead of Hewson as preferred Liberal leader,Polls showing Bishop as preferred leader over Hewson:
and a February 1994 poll gave her a 13-point lead as preferred prime minister over Paul Keating.
Shortly after the 1993 election, Jim Carlton, the Liberal member for Mackellar, resigned. In a move widely seen as furthering her leadership ambitions, Bishop resigned from the Senate on 24 February 1994 to contest the ensuing by-election for the safe Liberal seat. Although she was comfortably elected, her planned challenge to Hewson's leadership faced a setback when she did not poll as well as expected against author and filmmaker Bob Ellis, who ran as an independent in the by-election. When Hewson called a spill for the Liberal leadership in 1994, Bishop opted not to stand as a candidate, and Alexander Downer successfully challenged for the party leadership.
Prior to his ousting by Downer, Hewson brought Bishop back to the frontbench as she had declined a frontbench position from him the previous year. Hewson appointed her as Shadow Minister for Urban and Regional Strategy.
The 1993 frontbench offer that Bishop had declined was as Shadow Minister for Privatisation and Administrative Affairs, a position in the Shadow Outer Ministry.
She declined this position as she felt it was an insult to a woman of her talent and dedication. A talent and dedication she felt would only be reflected by being a member of the Shadow Cabinet which she had demanded but was not acceded to by Hewson. On refusing Privatisation and Administrative Affairs she says that she was not willing to put up with a junior portfolio of "limited interest."
This portfolio now renamed Privatisation and Administrative Services went instead to David Connolly.
When Downer became leader, Bishop became Shadow Health Minister, a senior position, but caused controversy on her first day in office by announcing her support for tobacco advertising, drawing criticism from both the Australian Medical Association and her own party, which supported the Keating government's legislation to prohibit tobacco advertising in 1992. Her remarks were attacked by the then AMA president and soon-to-be Liberal MP for the neighbouring seat of Bradfield, Brendan Nelson, who said that: "Mrs Bishop has a lot to learn about health...there are now more than 50,000 pieces of medical research and literature supporting the view that smoking is injurious to humans." Bishop was dropped from Health and moved to Privatisation and Commonwealth/State Relations (1995–1996).
Howard government (1996–2007) When the Liberals returned to Government in 1996, Prime Minister John Howard appointed Bishop a minister in junior portfolios. She was the first Liberal woman from New South Wales to become a minister. She was Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel from 11 March 1996 to 21 October 1998 and Minister for Aged Care from 21 October 1998 to 26 November 2001. It was in this role that she endured her greatest scandal, the kerosene baths controversy of 2000. The revelation that some residents at Melbourne's Riverside Private Nursing Home had suffered blistering after being bathed in a weak kerosene solution as a cure for scabies led to a national outcry over the standards of care maintained by Bishop's department. She was dropped from the ministry after the 2001 election. On 1 January 2001, Bishop was presented with the Centenary Medal "For service to Australian society through parliament and government".Centenary Medal, 1 January 2001, itsanhonour.gov.au Citation:"For service to Australian society through parliament and government" In 2004, she campaigned to succeed Neil Andrew as Speaker of the House, but was not successful.
An affirmed monarchist, Bishop, along with fellow ministers Nick Minchin and Tony Abbott, supported the "No" campaign leading up to the failed 1999 Republican referendum and on one occasion spoke to Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, warning of the "Seven deadly myths of the republican debate".Bishop, B. "Debunking the seven deadly myths of the Republican debate:A speech by the Hon. Bronwyn Bishop", 2 February 1999 On 17 July 1991, in response to the infamous debate on the Nine Network's Midday television show with host Ray Martin, debating on Australia remaining a constitutional monarchy, in a live televised debate with singer Normie Rowe and radio broadcaster Ron Casey, who ended up physically brawling, Bishop issued a media release which said: "It may well have been High Noon on the Midday Show when Ron Casey took a swipe at Normie Rowe but this conduct indicates just how divisive the debate on the Monarchy has become. Not content to see the country on its knees as a result of the recession the Labor Party must be pleased that it is dividing the community on an issue which has absolutely no political relevance."
In August 2005, Bishop called for Muslim headscarves to be banned from public schools, an opinion also expressed by another prominent Liberal backbencher, Sophie Mirabella. However, the Prime Minister, John Howard, said that he did not agree with this view as a ban would be impractical.The Sydney Morning Herald 30 August 2005 and 6 September 2005, Global Research 27 September 2005 In November 2005, Bishop expressed the view that "she is opposed to the wearing of the Muslim headscarf, where it does not form part of the school uniform. This is because that in most cases the headscarf is being worn as a sign of defiance and difference between non-Muslim and Muslim students" and then went on to say that she "does not believe that a ban on the Jewish skull cap is necessary, because people of the Jewish faith have not used the skull cap as a way of campaigning against the Australian culture, laws and way of life."Crikey newsletter, 10 November 2005