Bronwyn Bishop began her political involvement with the Liberal Party while a law student at the University of Sydney. She joined Killara Young Liberals in 1961 and during her association with that branch, she became Vice President. She then went on become Chairman of the Liberal Party Convention Committee from 1981 to 1985, and State President of the NSW Division from 1985 to 1987.
Mrs Bishop was elected to the Senate in 1987. Within eighteen months of her election, she was appointed Shadow Minister for Public Administration, Federal Affairs and Local Government. In 1994 Mrs Bishop was appointed Shadow Minister for Urban and Regional Strategy in May 1994, was appointed Shadow Minister for Health and in January 1995 she became Shadow Minister for Privatisation and Commonwealth/State Relations.
Mrs Bishop resigned from the Senate in February 1994 and was elected to the House of Representatives in March 1994 as the Member for Mackellar in a by-election and was re-elected to her Federal seat of Mackellar in the 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004 and 2007 general elections.
Following the election of the Howard Government in 1996, Bronwyn was appointed Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel, where she pioneered a ground breaking Defence Industry Policy framework, a first for Australia. It remains government policy, even today.
After the government's re-election in 1998, Bronwyn was appointed Minister for Aged Care where she brought a broad and progressive view to the needs of Australia's ageing population. Bronwyn again led the way by introducing mandatory national statndards for aged care providers ensuring that standards were lifted and maintained.
Since the last election, Bronwyn was honoured to have been appointed as Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs until late 2008. In late 2009, recognising that senior Australians are a wealth of knowledge and experience with ideas and solutions to shape our nations' future, Tony Abbott appointed Bronwyn to be Australia's first Shadow Minister for Seniors.
Bronwyn has held a number of other leadership positions within the Parliament including Chairman of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Human Services from 2004 to 2007, where she had completed a number of parliamentary inquiries, including into family work balance, effects of illicit drugs on families and finally into overseas adoptions. She also served as Chairman of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal & Constitutional Affairs from2001to 2004, where again she chaired a number of inquiries.
In addition she has also been Chairman of the Opposition Trade, Trade Negotiations, Customs and Privatisation Committee; Secretary of the Coalition’s Economics and Business Taskforce; Chairman of the Australian Flag Taskforce. She was Deputy Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, leading the Australian delegation to the 3rd Commonwealth Conference on Delegated Legislation in 1989. Mrs Bishop also served as a member of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.
In the time she has been in Parliament, Mrs Bishop has managed to establish a reputation as one journalist writing in the Sydney Morning Herald wrote “an indefatigable and formidable advocate.”
Her contribution to ensuring accountability by the Executive and the bureaucracy has been recognised through work on Senate Estimates Committees and Joint Parliamentary Committee of Public Accounts.
She has represented the Liberal Party at meetings of the International Democrat Union including the four biennial Party Leaders meetings in Berlin, Tokyo, Madrid & Seoul and she has previously served as Deputy Chairman of the Pacific Democrat Union.
Her interest in the Pacific Basin goes back more than two decades, and she has been a member of the Australian Committee of the Pacific Basin Economic Council since 1982.
Mrs Bishop maintains her involvement in professional and community interests by her membership of legal, cultural, charity, women’s community and sporting committees.
She is also a solicitor and mother of two daughters and a grandmother of one grandaughter.
