In December, Australia's two-year membership of the United Nations Security Council - a position hard fought and secured by Labor and mocked and opposed by the Coalition - will expire. The record of the then opposition's complaints about the bid are too numerous to list, but one from Bishop stands out: "There really has been no justification for the benefit that will accrue to Australia by pursuing a seat at this time."

Former foreign minister Bob Carr casts a ballot the 2012 vote that saw Australia become a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council.

It is Bishop herself who shot this claim to pieces when Australia won unanimous support for a key resolution over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

A defining moment in the early life of the Abbott government, Bishop's commanding performance kick-started discussion about her capacity to deliver and potential to lead. Ironically, it was the Security Council seat she fought so hard to oppose that has helped make her public rise possible.

On Thursday Australian time, as the temperature plummeted in New York, Ms Bishop delighted in taking an extra minute to remind journalists who'd failed to ask about Australia's achievements on the Security Council of the "successful two years" our membership had delivered.