Julie Bishop renews ties with former chief of staff Murray Hansen
Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has hired her political soulmate for her intriguing new consultancy.
Murray Hansen was Bishop’s chief of staff for the almost 11 years that she reigned as deputy leader of the Liberal Party. Before that, he was as an adviser when she was minister at the end of the Howard government. Now he’s signed on as a principal of her new venture, Julie Bishop & Partners.
The new outfit is a work in progress.
Margin Call is told it will include a mixture of foreign affairs consulting to complement Bishop’s already-underway career on the Australian and international speaking circuit.
As The Oz has previously revealed, expect to pay north of $50,000 to book the former Foreign Minister for a speaking gig through her representatives at Claxton.
The latest to sign up the former Member for Curtin is something called “Nurture 360”, a business, health and wellness retreat to be held in a five-star hotel in Fiji in October.
Bishop’s fellow speakers at Nurture 360 include celebrity personal trainer Michelle Bridges, hero Qantas pilot Richard de Crespigny and AFL legend Paul Roos. That sort of crowd.
Hansen’s addition to the fledgling firm will continue what was one of the longest lasting working partnerships in Australian politics.
The 58-year old was there for the highs and lows of Bishop’s Canberra career.
At the start of the Abbott government, Hansen’s preference for living in Brisbane, rather than the national capital or his minister’s base in Perth, provoked a now legendary clash between his boss and Tony Abbott’s then chief of staff Peta Credlin.
Only two years later, Hansen was along at Peter Hendy’s place in Queanbeyan at the fateful dinner at which the coup against Abbott was organised.
And Bishop’s is not the only business development in the still Brisbane-based Hansen’s post-political life. The week after the May election he registered Vinder Consulting, a private vehicle set up with his wife Kerryn Hansen.
As with Bishop, it seems all those years in politics haven’t dulled Hansen’s enthusiasm for the private sector.
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