"The so-called criminal allegation is a complete fabrication, just as the other claims are not accurate." A spokeswoman for the Australian Federal Police said that investigators had not yet received the information cited by Mr Slipper but would assess it as part of their ongoing inquiries. Mr Slipper said he would make a further statement in due course. The besieged MP, who quit the Liberal Party last year, stood aside as Speaker of the lower house of parliament on Sunday pending a possible criminal investigation into allegations he had misused taxpayer-funded Cabcharge dockets. He also faces a civil lawsuit, to go before the Federal Court in Sydney next month, which claims he sexually harassed a male staff member.

He has strenuously denied all the allegations. The government has argued he should be able to retake the chair if he is cleared of the criminal allegations - even if the sexual harassment claims are unresolved. Prime Minister Julia Gillard told reporters in Istanbul on Thursday there was a precedent for dealing with MPs facing civil actions. "The best thing you can do in circumstances like this is to look to do what is right and based on the precedent of the parliament, not to try and invent rules as you go along but to look to the history of the parliament and what has been done in the past," she said. "This distinction has been made in the past .. was made by the Howard government with circumstances like then minister Malcolm Turnbull being embroiled in the HIH litigation."

She pointed out that South Australian Liberal senator Sean Edwards was involved in civil proceedings. Senator Edwards is the subject of a misleading and deceptive conduct complaint before a court in South Australia but continues to sit on parliamentary committees. Liberal frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull said Labor was "clutching at straws" in its arguments about precedent because criminal and civil proceedings varied in their seriousness. "This is a civil case that involves an allegation of serious misconduct, in the office of the Speaker," he told Sky News. "There is a claim Mr Slipper behaved wrongfully and in a way that would shock most Australians in his own office, in his current job as Speaker."

Mr Turnbull said it is "not consistent with the dignity of the office of Speaker" for Mr Slipper to resume his job before the civil allegations were resolved. Disquiet among crossbenchers is also casting doubt on Mr Slipper returning to the chair. Tony Windsor today joined fellow independent MPs Andrew Wilkie and Rob Oakeshott - and the coalition - in suggesting all allegations should be dealt with before Mr Slipper resumes the chair. "My advice to him would be to vacate the chair whilst all these inquiries are going on and not force it to a vote within the parliament," Mr Windsor told ABC Radio today. Federal Liberal MP Patrick Secker has denied he is considering replacing Mr Slipper in the Speaker's chair.

A media report today said Mr Secker, a long-serving backbencher who recently lost his preselection, would consider running for Speaker if Mr Slipper could not return to the role. Mr Secker issued a statement denying the News Limited report. "The Australian has today reported that should the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Peter Slipper, not be able to continue in the role, that I would be prepared to consider accepting an offer from the Labor Party to replace him," he said. "This is absolutely false." Opposition leader Tony Abbott said Mr Secker had been a loyal Liberal for 30 years.

"Like most Australians he wants to change this government, not prop it up," he told reporters in Adelaide. Attorney-General Nicola Roxon announced the government would not pay Mr Slipper's legal costs. Loading Ms Roxon said parliamentary entitlements regulations allowed the government only to pay the legal expenses of ministers and parliamentary secretaries. AAP