Australia’s prime minister Tony Abbott announced that Bishop had tendered her resignation to the Governor-General at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
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Mr Abbott said Ms Bishop’s resignation was the right decision to take.
He announced a whole-scale review of the entitlements system – to be led by the former head of the Department of Finance, David Tune, and the head of the Remuneration Tribunal, John Conde – which will aim to give “the public confidence”.
THAT’S despite new allegations of her extravagant taxpayer-funded travel seemingly breaking daily since it was revealed she spent more than $5000 on a chartered helicopter fight to attend a Liberal Party function.
Bishop said last month she would repay the money and has apologized for using the funds for the flight.
Having recognised this, and presumably advised Bishop on the course she would reluctantly take, Abbott could not bring himself to criticise her conduct on Sunday, which made for an awkward and unconvincing appearance before the cameras. A committee reviewing entitlements will report to the government during the first half of next year, Abbott said Sunday.
“We have a situation where spending is arguably inside the rules but plainly outside community expectations”, the PM said.
“Mr Abbott has blamed the system, but it was Mrs Bishop’s addiction to privilege that was the real culprit” he said.
Largely unloved by the Australian people, or at least the Twitterverse, news of the Speaker’s exit was greeted with glee on social media.
“This has obviously been a very hard day for Bronwyn Bishop“, Mr Abbott said.
As the Prime Minister explained it, the disconnect was not between Bishop’s penchant for chartering choppers or hiring limousines to attend freebies and how the public expects its politicians to behave.
Abbott added that Bishop regrets her actions, saying that “no-one who saw Bronwyn on television the other day could be under any doubt as to her remorse”.
“Unfortunately Tony Abbott still won’t accept that Bronwyn Bishop has done anything wrong”, Mr Shorten said in a statement.
From the outset Bishop made it clear where her loyalties lay.
She is ranked seventh out of the top 10 spenders for that period, and one of the biggest spenders in parliament if you leave out once-off office fit-out costs.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Speaker’s resignation was “overdue” and the prime minister’s continued defence showed the Government was “unrepentant”.
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The Prime Minister’s move effectively absolves Mrs Bishop of accusations she abused the expenses system while Speaker, and when she was a back bencher who charged the taxpayer for trips to friends’ weddings.
