Tony Abbott denies Bronwyn Bishop offered inducements to quit as Speaker
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Version 0 of 1. Tony Abbott rejected the notion that Bronwyn Bishop was offered any inducements to stand down from the Speaker’s job and he confirmed the next Speaker would be a matter for the party room. Asked whether Bishop was offered another position if she stepped down, the prime minister said “there has been no offer”. “Bronwyn came to the right decision,” said Abbott. “She came to [the] right decision and while she obviously had done the wrong thing in a number of significant respects, she abundantly did the right thing yesterday.” Related: Coalition MPs demand proper say on next Speaker as Bronwyn Bishop quits Abbott said he was confident there would be a number of members interested in the Speaker’s job and it was up to the party room to make a decision. This was in contrast to Bishop’s appointment in 2013, which was considered a “captain’s pick” by the party room. A longtime ally of Bishop, Abbott said the “important thing now” was to choose an effective Speaker who could command the confidence of the house. “There was only one nomination just after the election but it’s always a matter for the party room,” Abbott said on Monday. Related: Bronwyn Bishop says her chief of staff would be a good successor in Mackellar “The party room will choose a nominee and obviously the government’s nominee will then go before the parliament and the parliament ultimately determines who the Speaker will be. “The important thing now is to ensure that we swiftly move to choose an effective new Speaker, a Speaker who can command the confidence of the House and I’m sure that that will happen shortly.” A number of government MPs have announced their availability for the Speaker’s role, including the father of the house, Philip Ruddock and South Australian MP Andrew Southcott. Ruddock confirmed he would be available if “called on by his colleagues” and Southcott said he would be a candidate after he was “flattered” to have his name mentioned. Other candidates named in the past 24 hours include Victorian MPs Russell Broadbent, Tony Smith and Sharman Stone. Stone said the business of the Speaker was best conducted behind closed doors but she felt Bishop had done the right thing in stepping down. “It was not a sustainable strategy to let the matter continue because very important business of government was stalled,” Stone said. The Deputy Speaker and Queensland National MP, Bruce Scott, was also under consideration though he has announced he will retire at the next election. When Bishop resigned as Speaker on Sunday as a result of the parliamentary entitlements scandal, she said in a statement she looked forward to continuing to serve the people of Mackellar, “the job which has always been my first responsible (sic) despite other positions I have held in the parliament”. Bishop will sit on the backbench when parliament resumes on 10 August. Prior to the scandal, Bishop had told Liberal party members her chief of staff and spokesman, Damien Jones, who was linked to controversial travel allowance claims, would be a good candidate to run in Mackellar, a blue-ribbon seat which takes in the northern beaches of Sydney. Jones is the president of both the federal electoral council of Mackellar and the state electoral council of Wakehurst, held by the New South Wales MP and family minister Brad Hazzard. He is also on the NSW Liberal party state executive. His wife is Natasha Maclaren-Jones, a Liberal member of the NSW Legislative Council and past party president. Jones refused to comment on whether Bishop would recontest the next election or confirm whether he would stand in the case of Bishop’s retirement. Preselections have not yet occurred for Mackellar owing to an electoral redistribution, due to be finally determined by January next year. The preselection would be the only process available to members who may wish to challenge Bishop’s claim to remain in the seat. Liberal sources said Bishop had a “North-Korean like grip” on her local branches and members had assumed Jones would have the numbers to win in the event of the former Speaker’s retirement. But given Jones’s link to the travel scandal, Liberal members now believe his chances have diminished. Bill Shorten urged the government to learn from the Bishop affair and shy away from a “hyper-partisan” choice. “Mr Abbott’s captain’s pick of Bronwyn Bishop … that experiment ended very badly so if it’s Mr Scott or indeed it’s Sharman Stone from the seat of Murray, they are both people who at least don’t have the same hyper-partisanship which has really made the last 21 months of Mr Abbott’s government and the parliament such a laughing stock because of its very political nature.” The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, said Scott would be a “good choice” to replace Bishop. “He’s retiring himself [at the next election], nobody needs to feel threatened,” Joyce told the ABC. “There’s still going to be the job for the Speaker there after the next election and if somebody wanted a stopgap measure between now and the election I think Bruce Scott would be an obvious choice.” Joyce sought to defend Bishop, saying politicians invited to political fundraisers did not receive the money themselves and would often prefer to go home than to attend such events. He said elements of the campaign against Bishop had a “sense of maliciousness and I think that’s very dangerous in politics” and warned there were MPs on both sides of politics who would not be able to explain all expenses. “Bronwyn is a big drawcard, so everybody wants her to turn up to things; I believe that will still be the case into the future,” he said. “If you want a crowd invite her along and you’ll get one.” The communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said Bishop had made the right call to resign but the issue of whether the prime minister should have acted sooner was a “benefit of hindsight” question. “I think there are some areas of ambiguity in the entitlement system but I really think that the fundamental principle is often one of common sense,” he told the ABC. “It was Bronwyn’s decision – you know, the helicopter was her call. She didn’t have to get a helicopter to Geelong. That’s what set this thing off.” Turnbull said he did not like the term “entitlements”, arguing MPs should consider them to be business expenses to be used prudently and responsibly. A parliamentary secretary, Steven Ciobo, said it was up to MPs to satisfy themselves that their spending was within the rules but also consistent with community expectations. Ciobo said expenses scandals “diminish all of us as members of parliament” and the community was understandably upset about the revelations. Ciobo said the Coalition had several parliamentary veterans who were strong candidates to take on the Speakership and could rule fairly over parliament. |