The former foreign minister, the first female to serve in the role, repeated her calls for a target to recruit more women into the party during an interview with the Nine Network.

"I believe that targets are an appropriate mechanism - it's not the only mechanism but I have seen it work elsewhere," Ms Bishop told 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

The former deputy leader of the Liberal Party also said Cabinet discussions were different when more women were featured.

"I have been in a Cabinet where I was the only female and then five female colleagues joined me and they were vastly different discussions and debates," she said.

In a wide-ranging interview she also said it was difficult to answer why there was a new prime minister.

"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," Ms Bishop said.

"There have been some rather unkind comments about Australia being the Italy of the South Pacific and the coup capital of the world."

Australian Associated Press