Julie Bishop’s foreign service

If Julie Bishop’s weakness was to sometimes court style over substance, she nonetheless grew in the role as foreign minister and proved tenacious and effective. She rose to the challenge in 2014 when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot from the skies over Ukraine with 298 souls on board, 38 from Australia. She skilfully navigated the international politics to give our authorities a leading role in investigating the atrocity and seeking to hold the perpetrators accountable. The result was the confident statement in May of Russia’s culpability. At a human level, Ms Bishop articulated the outrage and compassion of Australians.

With China resurgent, Ms Bishop was unafraid to state the claims of liberal democracy and call out Beijing’s bullying behaviour in the South China Sea. In a speech given in Singapore in March last year, and with an eye to China, she cited the superior record of democracy in delivering prosperity and stability. She insisted on the US as an “indispensable strategic power” in the Indo-Pacific.

The foreign interference debate has cast a chill over our relations with China and Ms Bishop has not visited Beijing for more than two years. Her legacy in China relations is uncertain. Pacific island nations have been neglected, a failure acknowledged by the recent plan for Australia and New Zealand to broker a South Pacific security agreement that would discourage the presence of outsiders, notably China.

Papua New Guinea’s instability certainly warrants more attention. It did not help that in 2015 PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill first learned from media reports of Australia’s plan to open a new diplomatic post in Buka, in the autonomous region of Bougainville. Ms Bishop has set up several new posts, including Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, and Colombia, a fast-rising economy of Latin America. Managed effectively, this expanded network should help give Australia more clout as a middle-ranked power. Over time Ms Bishop earned a reputation for being across her brief, energetic and persistent in her advocacy. Labor’s Penny Wong acknowledged Ms Bishop had “dedicated her life to our nation with a tireless work ethic and exhausting travel schedule”. But Ms Bishop was not free of error. In 2016 she lent credibility to Kevin Rudd’s ambition to become UN secretary-general. This was at odds with her party’s position — and Mr Rudd’s gift for chaos. Ms Bishop also put too much faith in Barack Obama’s naive anti-nuclear compact with Iran.

Ms Bishop’s signature policy — the New Colombo Plan — is not as well known as it should be. Now in its fifth year, this initiative sends our undergraduates into the Indo-Pacific region to study, do internships and begin to forge lifelong personal and professional networks. It is the kind of venture that can transform young lives, foster more understanding in our neighbourhood of the world, and perhaps even prevent future conflict. Ms Bishop listened to the experts when creating the scheme, had Labor’s Tanya Plibersek present at the December 2013 launch as a marker of bipartisanship, and elaborated the program with enthusiasm and panache. In search of savings, the opposition went to the 2016 election threatening a 50 per cent cut to New Colombo. Labor should reconsider. The plan promises to give Australia a rich return on investment, regardless of who is in the Lodge. By next year, more than 40,000 students will have travelled abroad under the New Colombo brand.

Ms Bishop was the first female deputy leader of the Liberals, serving under Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott and Mr Turnbull again. A prime duty of a deputy is to bind the partyroom loyally to the leader. The record shows Ms Bishop was not successful in that task. Even so, she was an asset to the party, a role model for women in politics, an indefatigable fundraiser and a sterling campaigner in marginal seat contests.

Ms Bishop’s portfolio successor, Marise Payne, performed poorly as defence minister. If she is to prosecute Australia’s case to the world, she will need shrewd judgment, more drive and confidence. She comes to the job with her predecessor’s imprimatur. She may need to keep Ms Bishop on speed dial.