Auckland: Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's hectic travel schedule appears to have caught up with her - right in the middle of a speech by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
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Ms Bishop flew out of Canberra late on Thursday night for Auckland, arriving just after 1am. The fitness fanatic foreign minister was up again at 6am on Friday morning for a jog past the city's war memorial and an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media.
But the long hours appeared to catch up with her during Mr Abbott's speech to the Australia New Zealand leadership forum.
As Mr Abbott talked up the strength of the trade, diplomatic and cultural ties between the two countries and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key watched on, Ms Bishop's eyelids could be seen closing for a second or more several times.
At one point, her head even dropped momentarily before snapping back to attention.
Mr Abbott laughed off Ms Bishop's nap later on Friday, declaring his deputy "incredibly hard-working" and a magnificently successful minister for foreign affairs.
"I've dozed off from time to time at conferences, all of us have from time to time dozed off at conferences. I've missed some very great speeches because occasionally I've been contemplating, as it were, contemplating the inside of my eyeball," he said.
"Given the pace at which we all work, its absolutely understandable. I also noticed her smiling and nodding, i think she was nodding in agreement rather than doing any other kind of nodding, to both John Key's speech and my own speech this afternoon."
Ms Bishop took to Twitter and said she was "not sleeping [but] merely contemplating the media obsession with trivia".
Earlier on Friday the Deputy Liberal Party leader gave off a completely different look, directing a withering glare at a New Zealand journalist who asked her about the prime ministership.
When asked whether she planned to stand against Malcolm Turnbull if the leadership were thrown open, Ms Bishop delivered a scathing response.
"These are hypothetical questions and this is all based on speculation and rumour," Ms Bishop said. "I've not seen any source attributed to any particular member or minister. So it's hypothetical, it is speculation, I don't intend to add to it."
With Lisa Cox