Neil Mitchell says Julie Bishop is “rewriting history” and “played the gender card” in her interview with Andrew Denton which aired on Channel Seven last night.

In a wide-ranging interview the former cabinet minister says she encountered “gender deafness” while in government and called for a 50 per cent representation of women in parliament.

Neil said while Ms Bishop has had a successful career in politics, it is time to step away and retire gracefully.

“Effectively she’s saying she was dudded because she’s a woman,” the 3AW Mornings host said.

“I think Julie Bishop should do herself a favour, and us, go away and keep her head down.”

Ms Bishop described gender deafness as a female voice being drowned out or ignored by men.

Neil said he hadn’t seen any evidence of it.

“Maybe I’ve got gender blindness because I can’t say I’ve ever seen it happen the way she describes.

“Do we need 50 per cent women in the parliament?

“You’d really like to think we need the right people.”