Today Show host Karl Stefanovic had asked Ms Bishop whether she was familiar with a Thermomix, a $2000 appliance billed by its manufacturers as being "the most advanced kitchen appliance on the market today".

The Governor-General's office had put in a request to purchase the kitchen marvel, on Tuesday mystifying several politicians in Senate estimates who had never heard of the luxury contraption.

Icon: Julie Bishop. Credit:Channel Nine

Liberal senator Cory Bernardi eventually had to educate his colleagues by describing the appliance as being "very popular amongst the home master chefs of today".

It seems Ms Bishop is among the ignorant.