On one appearance she’s displaying her emoji prowess, in another, she’s reminding us that, oh yeah, she’s the Foreign Minister.
Julie Bishop gave a very level description of the goings on of the snafu in Beirut, telling The Project that she’s been in constant communication with her opposite in Lebanon, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil.
Bishop explained that the Lebanese legal system differs from ours in that arrests are made first before suspects are taken before an investigating judge to determine if charges will be laid.
When asked if she felt ‘frustrated’ at all at the developments she more or less said it was just her job:
“This is the role of the Foreign Minister, to make representations on behalf of Australian citizens. I don’t make judgements, what I seek to do is assist people who need help and clearly that’s the situation here.”
She also explained that because only Australia is party to the Hague Convention, normal processes could not be used to settle the custody dispute.
The two countries do however have a bilateral agreement that would allow them to set up a commission to mediate the complicated issue, given that Australia has granted custody to the mother and Lebanon to the father.
Give it a watch:
.@JulieBishopMP about the latest on the #60mins saga & whether we’re heading towards a July 2 election #TheProjectTV https://t.co/zoth3B8Pms
— #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) April 18, 2016
The Project also asked about the prospect of a double dissolution now that the ABCC bill has been blocked but Bishop just pointed out that they already had one trigger and would not confirm if an election would happen July 2nd.
Source: The Project / Twitter.
Photo: The Project / Twitter.
