Deputy Liberal Leader Speaks Out For First Time About #LibSpill

Julie Bishop arrives at the Liberal Party leadership spill vote yesterday. Photo: Getty Images

Deputy Liberal leader and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has spoken about the Prime Minister’s leadership of his party. Speaking after the failed Liberal Party leadership spill yesterday, Bishop told the ABC that “people have been very frank and very blunt in their assessment of the performances of the Prime Minister’s Office… The Prime Minister is a smart man, he will take those issues into account.”

The advice comes after the Prime Minister’s approval rating plummeted to 25 per cent according to the latest Newspoll. Bishop’s own approval rating sits at 59 per cent, just five per cent below the preferred Liberal leader: Malcolm Turnbull.

The Foreign Minister also spoke out about Abbott’s divisive Chief Of Staff, Peta Credlin. “[She] is a very powerful figure in the sense that she is strong, she has a lot of opinions and she is very protective of the Prime Minister,” Bishop told the ABC.

“She was an indispensable part of our team in opposition. Now, the Prime Minister is very close to Peta, she obviously provides him with good advice and they work together as team.”

Responding to questions about whether the Prime Minister should sack his controversial Chief Of Staff – whom some Liberal backbenchers reportedly view as unapproachable and a key reason why the Prime Minister is viewed so poorly within his own party – Bishop was reticent.

“His particular staffing arrangements are a matter for him… I don’t expect him to tell me what to do with the staff in my office.”

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