Flashpoint: Former foreign minister Julie Bishop urges West Australians to maintain ‘attitude secession’ after border re-opens

Julie Bishop wants WA to maintain an “attitudinal secession” from the rest of the country after the border closure is lifted and has urged “Westralians” to keep thinking differently. And while the former foreign minister does not support an official secession, Ms Bishop says WA contributes enough to the GST that it could be its own country. Ms Bishop will appear on Channel 7’s Flashpoint tonight where the panel will discuss the closure of WA’s borders to the rest of the country and whether they should stay that way. Cricket coach Justin Langer will also appear and resident comedian Pete Rowsthorn will debut his national anthem for the “Republic of Westralia”. Ms Bishop said she did want the State to keep thinking differently from the rest of the nation. “Of course we’re part of a national entity in Australia and if we were our own country we’d obviously have to re-create all the structures that the Commonwealth provides in terms of defence and customs and immigration and a separate diplomatic corp,” she said. “It would be a massive upheaval but I think we should just maintain our attitudinal secession. We do think differently, we are a long way from everyone else but it makes us a much more innovative and creative people.” Ms Bishop said WA was such a significant part of the national economy it “could virtually be a country with the GDP that comes from this State”. “After this time of social distancing and isolation from the rest of Australia, and indeed the rest of the world, I bet there will be a lot of people who think we should be the republic of Westralia. It’s not a bad idea,” she said. “There are two very different personalities in Australia. You have the east coast and the west coast, just as you do in the United States. And we are different in many ways but when we’re together we’re pretty strong.” Ms Bishop, who is chair of Telethon Kids’ Institute, also said COVID-19 had proved the value of medical research on vaccines. “Currently we’re doing work on coronavirus and how it impacts on children and their families,” she said. “We’re also part of a global human vaccines project. And if this pandemic has taught us anything it’s the value of health and medical research in trying to find the vaccines for some of the more devastating diseases and coronavirus is certainly one of those.” Ms Bishop also said she was proud of how WA was responding to the virus. “In a recent discussion with former prime ministers from the UK, France, from Italy we were comparing how each nation was responding to the coronavirus and, of course, Australia stands up exceedingly well against the rest of the world and Western Australia (stands up) as well,” she said.