"I'm not interested": Pauline Hanson tells Georgie Gardner what she really thinks about Julie Bishop
One Nation senator Pauline Hanson has weighed in on Julie Bishop’s rumoured TV show, saying she has no interest in tuning in to watch the program hosted by the former foreign minister.
The Conversation with Julie Bishop – a big-budget talk show which has reportedly been pitched around to major networks by production company Screentime – could see the Liberal veteran travelling around the world to interview various female public figures.
The Australian reported on Monday that the guest list for the show’s first season included Princess Mary, Michelle Obama, Jacinda Ardern and Oprah Winfrey among others.
Speaking on Today Tuesday morning, Hanson dismissed the topic when asked by host Georgie Gardner if she would watch Bishop's TV show.
“Do I really want to watch [Bishop]? No, I don’t. Leave it up to the other people. No, sorry, I’m not interested,” she said.
“She is retiring on over $200,000 a year from the taxpayers so she really doesn’t have to find another job.”
“It doesn’t interest me whatsoever to actually tune in. I wasn’t tuned in when she was in parliament so I’m really not going to tune in.” @PaulineHansonOz says she wouldn’t watch a talk show hosted by @HonJulieBishop. #9Today pic.twitter.com/93rm7m0u0m
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) July 1, 2019
Hanson was asked if she would consider doing The Pauline Hanson Show after she left politics.
“No, I don’t think anyone would tune in to watch me either,” she said.
Author Nikki Gemmell, who appeared on the morning show with Hanson, was more welcoming of the idea.
“Apparently she wants to go all over the world, interview people like Michelle Obama, Sia, those kind of people who are perhaps a little bit shy about going on talk programs,” she said.
“Often we get men fronting these programs. I think the questioning would be different and the people she would be interviewing would be more likely to talk to her because they would feel like she is one of them.
“Lawyer background, really interesting questions, I imagine. Bring it on.”
Screentime producer Andrew Garrick said while the company had approached Bishop about the TV show, she has yet to come on board.
So you quietly suggest to an exec at a TV network that a show built around someone genuinely clever could be good to make, and they leak the entire pitch. Classy industry this one.
For everyone's clarity: we went to @HonJulieBishop, she wasn't on board yet. https://t.co/MAJG6C48Jg— Andrew Garrick (@ajgarrick) July 1, 2019
According to the document published by The Australian, the show was proposed as a “pure conversation” between guests from “diverse professional and cultural backgrounds” and host Julie Bishop, who is “accustomed to disarming the most tricky of personalities”. The interviews would be “filmed on the street of a city of the guest's choice, in full view of passersby”.
In the meantime, it has been revealed that Bishop has re-entered the private sector with an appointment to the board of international consultancy firm Palladium, less than two months after leaving politics.
Labor said Bishop’s new corporate job could mean a breach of ministerial standards. The Opposition’s foreign affairs spokesperson Penny Wong said Palladium had profited more than $500 million from the decisions made when Bishop was in office.
“Not only doesn't it pass the pub test, it looks on the face of it like another breach of the ministerial standards,” Wong told ABC News.