Bronwyn Bishop

The Honourable Bronwyn Bishop AO
Bishop in 2012
29th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
In office 12 November 2013 – 2 August 2015
Deputy	Bruce Scott
Preceded by	Anna Burke
Succeeded by	Tony Smith
Minister for Aged Care
In office 21 October 1998 – 26 November 2001
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Peter Staples
Succeeded by	Kevin Andrews
Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel
In office 11 March 1996 – 21 October 1998
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Gary Punch
Succeeded by	Warren Snowdon
Member of the Australian Parliament for Mackellar
In office 26 March 1994 – 9 May 2016
Preceded by	Jim Carlton
Succeeded by	Jason Falinski
Senator for New South Wales
In office 11 July 1987 – 24 February 1994
Preceded by	Sir John Carrick
Succeeded by	Bob Woods
Personal details
Born	Bronwyn Kathleen Setright (1942-10-19) 19 October 1942 (age 82) North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Alan David Bishop ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1992)​
Residence	Newport, New South Wales[1]
Education	Cremorne Girls High School University of Sydney (no degree)
Occupation	Solicitor and Company Director[2]

Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop AO (née Setright; born 19 October 1942) is an Australian former politician who served as the 29th speaker of the Australian House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015. A member of the Liberal Party of Australia, she served as a senator for New South Wales from 1987 to 1994 after which she became the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Mackellar from 1994 to 2016. During her time in parliament she served as the minister for Defence Industry from 1996 to 1998 and minister for Aged Care from 1998 to 2001 under Prime Minister John Howard.

Bishop was born in Sydney and worked as a lawyer before entering politics. She served as state president of the New South Wales Liberals from 1985 to 1987, and then won election to the Senate at the 1987 federal election. She became the state's second female senator and the first to be popularly elected. In 1994 Bishop switched to the House of Representatives, winning a by-election for the Division of Mackellar. She was a shadow minister under John Hewson, Alexander Downer, and John Howard.

In 1996 Bishop was appointed Minister for Defence Industry, Science and Personnel in the newly elected Howard government. She was made Minister for Aged Care in 1998, but lost her place in the ministry after the 2001 election. Bishop returned to the shadow ministry after the Liberal–National Coalition lost the 2007 election. In 2013, following the election of the Abbott government, she was elected Speaker of the House, becoming the first non-Labor woman to hold the post. She resigned in mid-2015 after being caught in the centre of a travel-expenses scandal, and was defeated for Liberal preselection at the 2016 election, ending her parliamentary career. Since 2016, she has been a political commentator at Sky News Live.