Shadow Ministry and Deputy Liberal Leader
Following the Coalition's loss at the 2007 election, Bishop was elected deputy leader of the Liberal Party under Brendan Nelson on 29 November 2007. In a ballot of Liberal party room members, Bishop prevailed with 44 votes, one more than the combined total of her two competitors: Andrew Robb (25 votes) and Christopher Pyne (18 votes). On 22 September, Bishop was offered the role of Shadow Treasurer by Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull, making her the first woman to hold the portfolio of any major party at the federal level. On 16 February 2009, she resigned from the position of Shadow Treasurer, due to dissatisfaction within Liberal ranks over her performance. Bishop moved to Foreign Affairs, while maintaining her position of Deputy Leader; the shadow treasury portfolio was taken over by Joe Hockey. On 1 December 2009, Tony Abbott was elected leader. Bishop retained the deputy role.
In 2010 Bishop defended the suspected forgery of Australian passports by Mossad, saying that many countries practiced the forging of passports for intelligence operations, including Australia. The government attacked Bishop over the statements, saying she had "broken a long-standing convention" in not speculating about intelligence practices. She later clarified her statement, saying "I have no knowledge of any Australian authority forging any passports of any nation."
Bishop retained the role of Deputy Leader without challenge following the Coalition's narrow loss in the 2010 federal election, and retained the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Shadow Minister for Trade.
Read more about this topic: Julie Bishop
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