Leadership Quote by Julie Bishop

A statistic dressed up as small talk, Julie Bishop's line is doing the classic politician's two-step: state something indisputable, then let listeners supply the meaning they already want. "At the last census" signals neutrality and authority. It's the bureaucratic equivalent of "don't shoot the messenger", a pre-emptive defense against accusations of bias. The number itself, "about 22 per cent", is carefully calibrated: precise enough to sound evidence-based, soft enough ("about") to avoid getting trapped in exactness or shifting figures.

The intent isn't really demographic education. It's agenda-setting. In Australian politics, immigration is rarely just a population fact; it's a proxy for arguments about national identity, economic need, social cohesion, and border control. Dropping "born overseas" into the room invites a choice architecture: you can hear it as proof of successful multiculturalism, or as a warning light about change. The sentence doesn't tell you which; that's the point. It allows Bishop to occupy the posture of reasonableness while activating a high-voltage topic.

Context matters because Australia has long relied on migration while simultaneously policing it with some of the West's hardest rhetoric and policies. A census stat becomes a rhetorical safehouse: it can be cited in debates on skilled visas, settlement services, or "Australian values" without declaring an ideological position outright. The subtext is: this is the scale of the thing we're arguing about; now pick your anxiety or your pride.