Australia’s FM Bishop resigns from cabinet
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has resigned from her post in the cabinet as new Prime Minister Scott Morrison braces to announce his cabinet line-up after winning an August 24 leadership contest at parliament.
“Today I advised the prime minister that I will be resigning from my cabinet position as minister for foreign affairs,” Bishop said in an online statement posted on Sunday. “I will remain on the backbench as a strong voice for Western Australia.”
Today I advised the Prime Minister that I will be resigning from my Cabinet position as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
— Julie Bishop (@JulieBishopMP) August 26, 2018
It has been an honour. pic.twitter.com/v5ueRw5W5L
Bishop also announced that she had not yet decided whether to stand at the next general elections, due by May 2019.
She had been foreign minister since 2013.
Bishop’s resignation could have serious implications for Morrison’s government, which has a parliamentary majority of only one seat.
In a bruising leadership contest that toppled former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday, the former foreign minister ran against Morrison and Peter Dutton — Turnbull’s conservative challenger — but secured only 11 votes in the 85-strong party room.
With a 45-40 Liberal party vote, Morrison was later in the day declared the winner and replaced Turnbull after a week of political chaos in Canberra.
Speaking to reporters after the vote, Morrison said he would be working to “bring our party back together which has been bruised and battered this week.”
The unrest is the latest chapter in a turbulent decade for Australian politics, which has frequently descended into maneuvering and backstabbing that has alienated voters.
No leader has managed to serve out a full term since former Prime Minister John Howard lost the 2007 election.
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