Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, who is responsible for keeping government spending under control, billed taxpayers more than $23,000 for weekend trips to the beach resort town of Broome with his wife over five years.

The final trip to the picturesque town was undertaken two months after the Abbott government delivered its politically toxic 2014 budget, which contained significant cuts to education and social security payments as well as a new payment to see the doctor.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday announced he would overhaul the parliamentary entitlements system by establishing a new independent body to oversee MPs' expense claims.

Although Health Minister Sussan Ley insisted she had not broken any rules, she resigned from the ministry after a week of revelations about her frequent taxpayer-funded travel to the Gold Coast where she bought a luxury apartment.