Bronwyn Bishop resigns as Speaker – as it happened

Opposition leader Bill Shorten is not satisfied with Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation, and has upgraded his rhetoric from an expenses scandal to a “saga”. That may be warranted.

Here’s his statement:

The resignation of Mrs Bishop from the position of Speaker, like her apology, was overdue and unrepentant.

Unfortunately Tony Abbott still won’t accept that Bronwyn Bishop has done anything wrong.

Mr Abbott has blamed the system, but it was Mrs Bishop’s addiction to privilege that was the real culprit.

Mrs Bishop hasn’t resigned because it was the right thing to do, it was because she and Mr Abbott realised they had no other choice.

As I have consistently said throughout this saga, Labor is up for a review of the entitlements system to ensure it is consistent with community expectations.

This doesn’t not absolve Mr Abbott of releasing the findings of the Finance Department’s investigation into Mrs Bishop’s alleged misuse of entitlements publicly.”

Bronwyn Bishop also holds the record as the longest-serving female parliamentarian, which she cracked in October last year.

Here’s Shalailah Medhora with a few more highlights from Bishop’s 27-years (and counting) in parliament:

She quickly gained a reputation for her forthright and sometimes confrontational style of cross-examination in Senate estimate committees and fiery chamber performances.

“I’m reminded in fact of the exchange I heard recently in parliament house when someone said, ‘Why do so many people take an instant dislike to Senator Bishop?’ to which the answer was, ‘It saves time,’ ” the then foreign minister, Gareth Evans, quipped during a debate in 1992.

You can read Shalailah’s full piece here.

Before we get to speculation about who will be the successor to the speaker’s chair, let’s have a moment of silence for Bronwyn Bishop’s frankly impressive record for ejecting opposition MP’s under standing order 94A.

At last count, as tallied by manager of opposition business Tony Burke, she had expelled Labor MP’s on 393 occasions, and coalition MP’s on just seven.

Looking to twitter, there seems to be a bit of skepticism about the whole, “it’s not Bronwyn, it’s the system” line.

Tony Abbott said the hammering Bronwyn Bishop received over her expenses claims exposed a problem with the system, rather than a problem with the way people might use the system.

Abbott:

Plainly the system that we have is deficient.

The public deserves to be absolutely confident taxpayers’ money is not being abused.

Abbott told reporters it would “not be a quickie review” but would instead be a “very wide ranging review indeed.”

Here’s AAP with a bit more:

The review will be carried out by former Finance Department head David Tune and head of the Remuneration Tribunal John Conde.

Mr Abbott insisted the review would not be a “quickie” but declined to give a specific time frame.

The prime minister refused to divulge details of his conversation with Mrs Bishop, who he acknowledged as one of his friends.

“This has obviously been a very difficult day for Bronwyn Bishop,” Mr Abbott said.

Clive Palmer, who has been campaigning for Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation as speaker for the past four days and even started a petition in the name of #RealDemocracy, is very pleased with this afternoon’s development.

Bronwyn Bishop’s office has released this statement:

I have today written to the governor general and tendered my resignation as Speaker of the House of Representatives effective immediately. I have not taken this decision lightly, however it is because of my love and respect for the institution of the parliament and the Australian people that I have resigned as Speaker.

I look forward to continuing to serve the people of Mackellar as their local member, the job that has always been my first responsibility despite other positions I have held within the parliament.

ABC News 24

Tony Abbott was careful not to criticise his “friend and colleague” in that brief press conference this afternoon, saying:

What has become apparent is the problem is not any one particular person, the problem is the rules. So the problem is not with the people that make excessive expenses claims; the problem is that expenses claims can be made.

Abbott continued:

Clearly we have a situation where spending is arguably inside the rules but plainly outside of community expectations.

Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation follows weeks of embarrassing stories about her somewhat grandiose expenses claims, beginning with the revelation that she had spent more than $5,000 on a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong to attend a Liberal party function.

My colleague, Shalailah Medhora, has summarised things here.

Good afternoon and welcome to this special Sunday edition of Politics Live to mark the resignation of Bronwyn Bishop as Speaker of the House of Representatives. The prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced the member for Mackellar’s resignation a few minutes ago.

And here we go...