Australia's first female foreign minister says many of her counterparts have called the country the coup capital of the world after the latest Liberal Party spill.
Former party deputy Julie Bishop made the comment during an interview on the Nine Network's 60 Minutes program.
"There have been some rather unkind comments about Australia being the Italy of the South Pacific and the coup capital of the world," Ms Bishop said on Sunday night.
"I've had many calls from my counterpart foreign ministers who are very politely asking why I am no longer the foreign minister and what happened to the prime minister."
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The backbencher also took aim at question time and said there was too much "vicious behaviour", including name-calling and too many insults.
"And the public see that as no better than schoolchildren. In fact, not as well behaved as schoolchildren," Ms Bishop said.
She also renewed her call to have gender targets in the Liberal Party.
"I believe that targets are an appropriate mechanism. It's not the only mechanism but I have seen it work elsewhere," Ms Bishop said.
