Former MP Bronwyn Bishop’s highly-anticipated return to the political scene has begun with one of the most excruciating television interviews of the year.
The former speaker – who came under pressure to resign over the “choppergate” scandal – has agreed to take up a commentary role with Sky News for the rest of the election campaign.
She had an interview with Sky News’ political editor David Speers on Thursday night by way of introduction to viewers, before she begins her regular appearances as commentator.
The interview had been billed as a chance for her to clear the air over events surrounding her controversial helicopter ride, and her strained relationship with Tony Abbott.
But Bishop gave Sky viewers nothing.
She admitted the helicopter ride was “probably a pretty dumb thing to do,” but she would not reveal what was going through her mind back then.
“[At] the time, it was to get to the function to be there on time to speak about the role of the speaker as I’d been doing all over the country,” she said.
Speers pressed her, asking “surely it must have clicked at the time that [it was] not right?” and Bishop said “yeah it did”, apparently acknowledging that she did know it was the wrong thing to do.
So Speers asked her, to be sure: “So you knew that at the time?”
But Bishop backtracked: “Well I do now, with hindsight. It was just that we had to get there. The time constraints were there. But as I said it was a pretty dumb thing to do.”
And so it went.
Speers reminded Bishop that in her final speech to parliament she said there was “much more than meets the eye to [the helicopter saga], but not for now,” the quote being a reference to the politics behind the scenes that led to Tony Abbott asking her to stand down.
But Bishop dug her heels in.
“Still not for now,” she said.
“We’ve got an election that’s raging. We’ve got so many more issues that are important to discuss. It’s not all about me. It’s about the people of Australia.”
Speers tried one more time: “But as you say, there’s more than meets the eye in this saga.”
Bishop remained coy: “There’s always two sides to a story, isn’t there?”
It was an excruciating 20-minute interview in which Bishop gave little away, and in which Speers struggled to get to the “revelations” in to match its billing.
Bishop has vowed to have a different approach to Peta Credlin as a Sky News commentator, saying she will be talking about policy.
Peta Credlin, Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff, has raised eyebrows within Coalition ranks during this election campaign for her decision to appear on conservative commentator Andrew Bolt’s TV show – also on Sky – to offer regular criticism of Malcolm Turnbull’s campaign.
