Prime Minister Tony Abbott in discussion with Speaker Bronwyn Bishop during question time. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen For her part, Bishop enjoyed a less stellar career in the junior ministry punctuated, rather unfortunately, by the notorious kerosene baths scandal when she was aged care minister. Nonetheless, her longevity, her doggedness, and her commitment to key conservative causes such as the monarchy, endeared her to her younger NSW colleague Tony Abbott, leading him at one stage to famously declare he was the "ideological love child" of Howard and Bishop. By 2013, however, Abbott had too many frontbench hopefuls and not enough posts so when he became prime minister, it was the much older Bishop - she turns 72 later this month - that he leaned on to step sideways into the "independent" speaker's chair. "Independence" has been a term under strain ever since. Not only has the conservative war-horse maintained her attendance at party meetings, she has taken a particularly tough line against her opponents, having now ejected Labor MPs for unruliness on 204 occasions.

Tony Abbott and Bronwyn Bishop during for 2013 election campaign. Credit:James Brickwood The opposition's Tony Burke says if she keeps going at this rate, she will have suspended around a third of all of MPs ejected from federal proceedings across the 113-year life of the national parliament. But it is her decision on the treatment of women wearing Muslim face coverings that has put the Speaker on a collision course with the Prime Minister. Requiring women "so attired" as the PM put it, to view parliamentary proceedings from behind the insulating safety of soundproof glass, in contradistinction to anyone else, is an astounding, illogical, and wholly indefensible ruling. It is segregation plain and simple. So much so that Abbott has now distanced himself from the storm, letting it be known publicly that he wants the ruling overturned.

It is arguable that it was Abbott's own comments on Tuesday describing the "burqa" as confronting and something he wished was not worn, that had actually licensed the bizarre and discriminatory ruling. The question is now, will the Speaker (and the President of the Senate Stephen Parry, with whom she runs the Parliament) comply? Officially, she doesn't have to. Abbott may run the government but the two presiding officers rule the Parliament itself and they do so on the mandate of members and senators of their respective houses. As of Friday morning, the Speaker's office was standing its ground and Bishop was preparing to travel abroad - ironically to seek election as president of the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union. She's up against candidates from the largest muslim nation in the world, Indonesia, as well as the Maldives and Bangladesh. The IPU promotes pluralism and has had a particular focus on women's empowerment.

Ever the political warrior, Bishop will want to hold fast and not be seen to be dictated to by the Prime Minister. She may even feel betrayed after reading the PM's language earlier in the week. Abbott, however, cannot let the ruling stand - especially as it was probably his unwise personal extemporisations about the burqa that brought it about. Loading One will have to back down. It is in the national interest that it be the parent and not the progeny (ideologically speaking). Follow us on Twitter