A deadpan Julie Bishop has brushed off a campaign poster in the Canning by-election that shows her embracing Tony Abbott with the word ‘loyalty’ above.

The poster appears to be revenge for a similar poster that emblazoned polling booths in the 2013 federal election of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

• Keys to Canning: jobs, crime, leadership 
• Canning puts blowtorch on Shorten

“I don’t react to it,” Ms Bishop told reporters in Byford.

“This is not about me. This by-election is about Andrew Hastie versus other candidates.

“It’s not about the leadership of the Liberal party, it’s not about changing the government.”

Ms Bishop laughed hard when asked about a newspaper headline that described her as Lady Macbeth.

“Oh, the Daily Tele. I love them. I just think they are one of the most animated media outlets across this country.”

She also defended the absence of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, saying he was too busy reshuffling Cabinet to visit Perth in support of Mr Hastie.

“Malcolm would have been here if we’d asked him to,” she said.