Mr Abbott said he would launch a 'fundamental review' of parliamentary entitlements, saying there was a discrepancy between "what is within the rules and what is within community expectations".

"It what has become apparent is that the problem is not any particular individual the problem is it's the entitlements system more generally," he said.

With Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Mrs Bishop going to ground over the weekend it had been unclear whether Mrs Bishop still enjoyed Mr Abbott full support, something she had lost from the majority of her Liberal party colleagues by Sunday.

It was clear, however, her full apology and pledge to pay back expenses claims had failed to shift the damaging political agenda brought on initially by the revelation she charged taxpayers for a $5,277 helicopter ride to a Liberal fundraiser last year.

The resignation follows weeks of calls for her to exit the Speakers chair from Labor and crossbench MPs.

Tony Abbott and Bronwyn Bishop meet with retirees at Dee Why RSL in 2013. James Brickwood

Opposition leader Bill Shorten responded by blasting Mr Abbott, saying her resignation "like her apology, was overdue and unrepentant".

"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," he said.

'Bronwyn is a lady'

Unlike other coalition ministers, however, Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce came out in defence of Mrs Bishop's use of expenses on Sunday, saying they were not unreasonable and attending fundraisers was an unpleasant but necessary part of politician's jobs in a system driven by donations.

ELECTION 2010 Tony Abbott and Bronwyn Bishop campaigning in 2010. Glen McCurtayne GPM

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.

"Bronwyn is a lady, who when things are busy, it's not unreasonable that she will have someone help her drive her to what ever job she's got.

"Obviously if you are at an event, there's alcohol here, you do not want to be getting in a car to go home. That is part of life of a politician," he said.

Raft of claims


A deluge of claims she misused expenses on chartered flights, helicopter rides, weddings and arts events were joined by even more reports over the weekend including:

Those allegations fall on top of a number of previous controversial expenses claims including:

Mrs Bishop has asked the Department of Finance to investigate Mrs Bishop's expenses going back 10 years, which Labor and frontbencher Kelly O'Dwyer are demanding are made public.

Mr Abbott said he had appointed former Secretary of the Department of Finance, David Tune, and Chair of the Remuneration Tribunal, John Conde, to co-chair a committee to examine politicians' entitlements, expected to report in the first half of 2016.

Mr Shorten reiterated that his party would agree to a review of the entitlements system.