Any breach of the rules or perception of a breach inevitably riles the public and the media is pleased to feed the outrage. The government's reputation is smeared and public respect for all politicians is eroded. In this case, sooner or later, the Prime Minister has to make a judgment call. He has to decide what punishment should be meted out, if any. Incoming governments often amend or introduce a new code of conduct for MPs. They do it to demonstrate to the electorate that they are fair dinkum about standards that apply to MPs including their use of taxpayer monies for doing their job. The PM's judgement has nothing to do with the code. Abbott has to weigh the ups and downs of keeping her or letting her go; it is a political judgment driven by public opinion. The first point to note is that the Speaker is independent of the government but the political reality is that if Tony Abbott says that she should go, then she will. The big question for Abbott is how much damage is being done to the government. A good minister might be a loss to the government but the retirement of the speaker is different.

Abbott has been chummy with Bishop for a long time. They share political opinions and to Abbott's credit he can be very loyal to those around him. In one sense this makes it a personal judgement but Bishop's supporters in Sydney may not like Abbott dumping someone with a long record of service. Not too many people will think that Bishop has been denied natural justice although many are out for her blood for reasons unrelated to the helicopter incident. In considering the damage, Abbott will be asking himself how long will this saga go on? The Finance people will probably be told to hurry up so that the issue does not drag on. While Finance cogitates, other issues may take centre stage. But that is at best only temporary relief. One option would be for Bishop to stand aside until the Finance department report is concluded. Abbott might think that would only increase the pressure on her to go. Labor is desperate to keep the issue going for as long as possible. So far, Bishop has been the best speaker they could have dreamed of. Labor is hoping that they can turn Bill Shorten from being the man whose integrity was in question last week in the royal commission to Bill Shorten, the man who stands for high standards on entitlements. If Labor can keep the issue running into next weekend then Labor will have momentarily given Shorten a break from the punishment that he has endured for the past month. The other issue for Abbott is backbench opinion. Some would like her out. Bishop will find that her number of friends has been reduced. In some ways, your own colleagues can be more of a problem than your opponents. Abbott would be wise to watch if any backbenchers are organising against her.

I know how that feels; it happened to me. In some ways, your own colleagues can be more of a problem than your opponents. Abbott would be wise to watch if any backbenchers are organising against her. In the midst of the storm around me, Kevin Rudd rang and said it could've happened to anyone, which shows that not everybody plays that game. Entitlement scandals sell papers. When you are in opposition, kicking the government is just good fun, good for morale and a handy distraction from your own problems. But I don't think there are many examples of entitlements being rorted so much that this becomes the principle reason for a government to lose office. There are two explanations for that. One, because many entitlements issues are about genuine mistakes rather than an intent to cheat. Two, when they get to an election, voters are more interested in what the politicians are going to do for the voters. And there is a disconnection between individual MPs and MPs as a group. A lot of people know something about their local MP and most would know that corruption in politics in Australia is very limited.

Reading the press you'd be forgiven for thinking think Australian politicians are a bunch of crims. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are lucky that our democracy is pretty clean by any standards. Peter Reith was a former Howard government minister and is a Fairfax Media columnist.