Bishop defends catty gesture

"It's just a little thing that I do." That's how Julie Bishop explained the cat-like gesture she made to Julia Gillard on Monday that's attracted so much attention.

The opposition treasury spokeswoman, who is facing attack on a number of fronts, bared her "claws" at the deputy prime minister during an angry clash between the two most senior females in parliament.
Ms Bishop defended her parliamentary behaviour, saying it was her way of getting
"the girls" to put their claws away.
"When people are carrying on in question time and getting really personal and
vicious, it's just a little thing that I do," she told reporters.
"It's sort of suggesting that the girls should put the claws away."
Asked about the unusual parliamentary hand signal, a giggling Ms Bishop asked: "You
want me to do it again, don't you?"
The deputy Liberal leader has had a tough few days, with ongoing scrutiny of her
performance in the treasury portfolio and a continuing focus on recent plagiarism
claims.
In question time on Tuesday, she kept a low profile and wasn't on the roster of
opposition MPs quizzing the government despite it being a big day for economic news.
But Ms Bishop scoffed at suggestions she was hiding in the shadows, and said she was
getting a "great deal" of support from colleagues.
"I have asked almost as many questions of Wayne Swan in two months as he asked of
(former) treasurer Peter Costello in two years," she said.
"I have asked the treasurer 30 questions, I have yet to receive a sensible response
to any of them.
"In the coalition we spread the questions around, we give people an opportunity to
ask questions ... I'll be asking questions tomorrow, the next day but maybe not the
first day of next year. It's not a tried and true methodology."