However, Fairfax Media has confirmed bureaucrats will not publicly release the outcome of the three probes. Former speaker Bronwyn Bishop. Credit:Andrew Meares Asked how long the reviews will take, who is conducting them and whether the outcomes will be made public, a spokesperson only replied: "The Department of Finance does not comment on its dealings with individual parliamentarians or in relation to the administration of parliamentary entitlements." A separate spokesperson said the department never commented on the outcome of "matters being assessed under the Minchin Protocol". The protocol allows MPs to quietly repay wrongly claimed expenses without the public's knowledge. The department's position contradicts the views of Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who said on Monday there was "no particular reason" why the findings should not be made public.

The claim that the department never comments on entitlements is also at odds with statements it made to the media about the expenses of former speaker Peter Slipper. It means taxpayers will only know whether MPs have misused their entitlements if Mrs Bishop, Mr Ruddock or Mr Burke decide to release the findings themselves. The expenses scandal, which has raged for four weeks, dominated Parliament's return on Monday from its winter recess. A ReachTEL poll conducted for Fairfax Media suggests the saga has stripped Prime Minister Tony Abbott of voter support, with almost half of voters indicating they are less likely to support Mr Abbott following the scandal. Victorian Liberal MP Tony Smith has replaced Mrs Bishop as Speaker.

Mr Ruddock, an early contender for the prestigious job, lost support after it emerged he had claimed more than $18,000 in expenses for travel to Cairns, where he owns an apartment. One trip in January 2013, which included Mr Ruddock's wife, Heather, cost taxpayers more than $3500 in airfares and $635 for cars. There were four other trips to the Queensland holiday hot-spot since 2010. Mr Ruddock on Monday agreed to repay the costs of just one of the trips but insisted the rest were within entitlements. Mr Burke last week agreed to repay $90 in travel expenses he had claimed to attend a Robbie Williams concert, but has defended his decision to use the "family reunion" provision to fly his children business class to Uluru, where he was conducting business as a minister in 2012, at a cost of more than $12,000. Politicians are entitled to fly family members to and from Canberra, and in some cases inter-state. Taxpayers have subsidised more than $8 million worth of travel for the family of politicians over just five years.

Ms Bishop has repaid the cost of the helicopter trip. What we asked How long the reviews will take and who is conducting them.

Whether the outcome of the three individual reviews will be made public.

If the outcome of the reviews will not be made public, why not?

Whether the department believes the public interest overrides its policy of not commenting on individual entitlements.

To whom or what department/agency the outcome of the reviews will be referred. What we got back "The Department of Finance does not comment on its dealings with individual parliamentarians or in relation to the administration of parliamentary entitlements."

Loading "The Department of Finance does not comment on outcomes or matters being assessed under the Minchin Protocol." Follow us on Twitter