Bronwyn Bishop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Hon. Bronwyn Bishop | |
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| Constituency | Mackellar |
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| Majority | 15.8% |
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| In office 1998 – 2001 |
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| In office 1996 – 1998 |
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| Born | 19 October 1942 Sydney, New South Wales |
| Political party | Liberal Party of Australia |
| Relations | Mark Baker |
| Children | Angela Bishop |
| Residence | Newport, New South Wales |
| Occupation | Company director |
(The Hon.) Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop (born 19 October 1942), Australian politician, has been a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives since February 1994, representing the Division of Mackellar, New South Wales. She was born in Sydney, New South Wales, and was a solicitor and company director before entering politics.[1] She currently lives in the Sydney suburb of Newport. Her daughter is Channel 10 entertainment reporter Angela Bishop.
[edit] Political career
Bishop was elected to the Senate for New South Wales in July 1987, and proved an aggressive debater against the Australian Labor Party, particularly Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.[citation needed]
After the Liberals' defeat at the 1993 election, Bishop began to be seen as a possible leadership candidate, a view she shared. Bishop resigned from the Senate in February 1994 to contest the Mackellar by-election in the House of Representatives, a move widely seen as furthering her leadership ambitions. Although she was comfortably elected, her campaign against John Hewson for the leadership faced a setback when she did not poll as well as expected against author and filmmaker Bob Ellis, running as an independent.[2] When John Hewson called a spill for the Liberal leadership in 1994, Bishop found that her colleagues did not share her opinion of her leadership potential, and Alexander Downer successfully challenged for the party leadership.
In 1994-95 she was Shadow Health Minister, a senior position. When the Liberals returned to Government in 1996, Howard placed her in junior portfolios. She was Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel 1996-98 and Minister for Aged Care 1998-2001.[1] This portfolio saw her embroiled in a series of controversies over standards of care in nursing homes, and she was dropped from the ministry after the 2001 elections. She campaigned to succeed Neil Andrew as Speaker of the House, but was not successful.
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. The Prime Minister, John Howard, said that he did not agree with this view as a ban would be impractical. Her preoccupation with criticising Islam in Australia has been criticised as racist, sexist and hypocritical.[3] 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."[4]
On January 21, 2006, at a Young Liberals convention in Sydney, Bishop declared her intention to introduce a private members bill to make "destroying or violating" the Australian flag a federal offence.[5] Shortly before the Howard Government lost office, Bishop headed the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services, and released the report "The winnable war on drugs: The impact of illicit drug use on families"[6]. The report was highly critical of harm minimisation and suggested mandatory adoption of children under 5 years of age whose parents were known to use drugs. The report was widely criticised by a range of organisations such as Family Drug Support, The Australian Democrats[7] and The Australian Drug Foundation for lacking evidence, being ideologically driven and having the potential to do massive harm to Australia.
In the 2007 federal election, Bishop was re-elected to her seat with a 0.62 percent primary swing and 3.04 percent two party swing against her, not taking in to account the electoral redistribution. New Liberal Leader Brendan Nelson appointed Ms. Bishop to the shadow outer ministry portfolio of veterans affairs. [8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Biography for Bishop, the Hon. Bronwyn Kathleen. Parlinfo web. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ "Bishop moves to the back bench", Lateline, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 23 November 2001. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ The Sydney Morning Herald August 30, 2005 and September 6, 2005, Global Research September 27, 2005
- ^ Crikey newsletter, November 10, 2005
- ^ "MP wants to outlaw flag burning", News.com.au, January 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-12-12.
- ^ [1] - House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services report: The Winnable War on Drugs
- ^ Sen. Andrew Murray (2007). Senate Hansard, 18th September 2007, 10:20pm
- ^ Australian Electoral Commission summary of Mackellar, Federal Election 2007.. Australian Electoral Commission (2007-12-19). Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Gary Punch |
Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel 1996–1998 |
Position abolished |
| New title | Minister for Aged Care 1998–2001 |
Succeeded by Kevin Andrews |
| Parliament of Australia | ||
| Preceded by Jim Carlton |
Member for Mackellar 1994–present |
Incumbent |
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