The Foreign Minister is famous for her garden gnome-destroying death stare. And she uses emojis with more enthusiasm than a giddy teenager.

But Ms Bishop managed to outdo herself in the unlikely surrounds of the House's condolence motion for Malcolm Fraser on Monday.

Usually one would be more sombre rather than less while pondering the passing of a former prime minister. But these are not usual times.

Ms Bishop's burst of expression occurred when Treasurer Joe Hockey was making his tribute to Fraser and praised him for starting the Expenditure Review Committee, the sub-grouping of cabinet that runs the budget.

"We will be forever thankful," Mr Hockey said, cheerfully.

"That committee has endured, much to the chagrin of my colleagues, but it has endured."

Up until this point, Ms Bishop had been listening to her ministerial colleague stonily - her jaw set with all the determination of an annoyed teenager.

But when Mr Hockey mentioned the budget committee, she proceeded to roll her eyes, shake her head, mutter under her breath, put her head in her hand and raise her eyebrows in dazzling and devastating succession.

While Ms Bishop's office have not distributed a transcript of her comment, it would be fair to say that she was not taking issue with the extra paperwork generated by the ERC. Or its tendency to run late into the night.

It is far more likely that she was referring to the morning's papers, which carried the news that her already-diminished aid budget was to be cut further by the committee.

As she had earlier told the ABC, this was the first she'd heard of the idea.

"I'll certainly be taking that up with the Treasurer to find the source of that story," she warned.

Her subsequent eye rolling suggests their conversation isn't going to be easy.

Follow us on Twitter