Julie Bishop’s new job fails the pub test, says Penny Wong

Penny Wong says Julie Bishop’s new job with development contractor Palladium fails the pub test.

Former foreign minister Julie Bishop. Picture: Tim Hunter

Labor frontbencher Penny Wong says Julie Bishop’s new job with development contractor Palladium fails the pub test and “looks like another breach of the ministerial standards”.

Palladium is a big player in ­taxpayer-funded aid contracts, running education projects, justice interventions and business development programs for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Senator Wong said Palladium had been awarded about $500 million in contracts from the Department of Foreign Affairs while Ms Bishop was foreign minister.

She said the company’s statement on why Ms Bishop was ­appointed to the board — her “network of global contacts” — was also problematic.

“The ministerial code says very clearly you can’t use information (and) knowledge … that you have attained as a minister that is not available to the general public,” Senator Wong told the ABC.

“I think the statement by Palladium makes it clear Ms Bishop has been appointed because of her unique knowledge.”

She said Scott Morrison needed to act to uphold his ministerial standards. “It is a test of what sort of Prime Minister is he going to be? Is he a man of integrity or not?”

Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick said Ms Bishop’s case was less clear than that of former defence minister Christopher Pyne, who has taken a job as a defence consultant with Ernst & Young.

“Mr Pyne indicated he was taking up the position at EY to grow their defence business. EY is an Australian company with a large reliance on Australian government contracts,” he said. “Palladium is a large outward-looking international company. Provided Ms Bishop is not engaged in securing Australian government contracts, a conflict … is less likely.”

He said a Senate inquiry on the ministerial code proposed by Centre Alliance could examine the Bishop appointment and Mr Pyne’s EY job.

Ms Bishop said the role fit well with her interest in driving economic growth in developing countries across the region. “I’ve long believed the private sector is the key to lifting living standards and economic development,” she told The Australian Financial Review.

“Working with a private company like Palladium will help me continue to work for opportunities in the Pacific and PNG.”

Senator Patrick’s proposed Senate committee inquiry into the adherence of former ministers to the ministerial code appears set to go ahead with the backing of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party.

A spokesman for One Nat­ion, which has two Senate votes, said Senator Hanson would look favourably at the proposal because she believed the public was sick of former ministers making money from their insider knowledge.