Expenses scandal: Australian parliamentary speaker resigns

Ms Bishop was forced to resign from the highly-coveted speaker position after details of her extravagant travel claims were laid bare – including charging taxpayers $5000 for a chartered helicopter flight between Geelong and Melbourne to attend a party fundraiser.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called for a “fundamental” review into MP’s entitlements (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) Abbott told reporters this morning: “What has become apparent, particularly over the last few days, is that the problem is not any particular individual the problem is the entitlement system more generally”.

He argued Mrs Bishop’s notorious spending had been within guidelines but outside “community expectations”.

Mrs Bishop, who had served as speaker since 2013, has been compared to Margaret Thatcher and is known as a tough, unrelenting political operator.

Mr Abbott refused to criticise his long-time friend saying the system had let her and other MPs down.

“One was that every member of parliament should have on their website a link to their claims made of the finance department”, he told the ABC’s AM program.

Mr Hutchinson said his electorate had expressed views he understood and shared.

Howard-era Minister Peter Reith wrote in a Fairfax column on Tuesday that “just about everyone one of his picks has beena disaster for him, including paid parental leave, knighthoods and local government recognition”.

“This has obviously been a very hard day for Bronwyn Bishop…I think we should respect the fact that its been a very hard day for her”, he said.

In a statement, Mrs Bishop said she had tendered her resignation effective immediately.

Mr Joyce said Mrs Bishop was compelled to attend many events as she was seen as a crowd-puller and getting chauffeured there was part of doing her job and helped avoid drink-driving.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten kept up his attack on Mr Abbott over the affair by accusing the Prime Minister of blaming the system rather than the Speaker.

Mrs Bishop has indicated she will stay in Parliament as member for Mackellar.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he accepted Ms Bishop’s move.

Who will replace Bronwyn Bishop as Speaker of the House of Representatives?

“We did get some changes [through] but it’s also true that parliament, both governments, are pretty slow to act on the key recommendations”. She also vowed to refund travel expenses incurred for trips to colleagues’ weddings.

The speaker controls the floor of parliament and is traditionally carried out in an independent and impartial manner. “I want to apologize to the Australian people for my error of judgement and to say sorry”.