"If I have anything to pass on to the Speaker I will do it privately and not offer public lectures on these things. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said Speaker Bronwyn Bishop is 'considering her position'. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "The Speaker is consulting with her colleagues." This came as News Corp reported on Wednesday that the Speaker claimed travel allowance to attend federal Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro's wedding in 2007 and Labor vowed to call out the absurdity of the Mrs Bishop's position, if she remains in the chair by the time Parliament resumes next month. The Foreign Minister's comments declining to support the Speaker are significant given her position as Deputy Liberal Leader and that she is considered an ally of Mrs Bishop. Mr Morrison's comments are also significant as he is considered a potential future Liberal leader.

Mrs Bishop is already under fire for billing taxpayers for airfares to rural Victoria to attend the wedding of former federal Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella in 2006. The Speaker's office has defended the claiming of entitlements at the time of both weddings, citing meetings with anonymous figures relating to parliamentary committee work, but is refusing to reveal who Mrs Bishop met. A spokesman for the Speaker defended the use of entitlements to travel to Brisbane for Mrs Gambaro's wedding as it coincided with committee work scheduled for the next day. "She travelled up there for official purposes as committee chair," he said. "The Speaker had a meeting at the Brisbane CPO the next morning with an academic who had relevant experience in the area the committee was examining which was illicit drugs," the spokesman said.

Speaking from New York, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Wednesday there was no doubt the issue would dominate Parliament when it resumes on Monday week. "I understand that the Labor party will seek to use this to destabilise question time for example and I'm sure Speaker Bishop will take that into account as she considers her position," Ms Bishop told the Nine Network's Today program. "But I believe it's important the Department of Finance be able to carry out an investigation," she added. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten called on Mr Abbott to act and replace the Speaker with veteran Coalition MP Bruce Scott. "Put simply, Mr Abbott has to act. Bronwyn Bishop has to go," Mr Shorten said.

"I think it's now time perhaps for the Coalition to look at putting in a more reasonable face, someone who'd respect the independence of the Speaker's position, so we can restore the standard of parliamentary democracy in this country." MPs will return to Canberra on August 11 and Labor is likely to stage some sort of protest against the Speaker in that week. But Labor's manager of opposition business Tony Burke told Fairfax Media he expected the Prime Minister would dismiss the Speaker before then. "It's unbelievable to think Tony Abbott is so out of touch that he would allow Bronwyn Bishop to still be in the chair when Parliament returns," Mr Burke said. "But if that's the absurdity we face, Labor will be calling it as we see it," he said.