Bronwyn Bishop reveals Tony Abbott request in parliament exit

Bronwyn Bishop has revealed, in a farewell speech, the desperate moves from Tony Abbott’s camp to save his job as PM.

Former Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop delivers her valedictory speech in the House of Representatives.

Bronwyn Bishop has revealed she was asked to resign as Speaker to protect former prime minister Tony Abbott. Delivering her final speech to the parliament, Mrs Bishop said her “moving” time in the chair came to end when she resigned to protect the man she’d worked with and respected for many years. “There is much more than meets the eye in that saga. But not for now,” she told parliament today.

Ms Bishop resigned as Speaker in August last year after pressure from Mr Abbott and frontbenchers over the so-called ‘Choppergate’ scandal, when taxpayers were charged more than $5,000 for her to take a helicopter from Melbourne to Geelong.

The then-Speaker initially refused to apologise for the taxpayer-funded ride, but three weeks later conceded she’d made an error in judgment and publicly said sorry.

She also refused to step down at the time, but later quit.

TIMELINE: Bronwyn Bishop’s career

A recently released book by political commentator Niki Savva alleged it was Mr Abbott’s office that had instructed her not to apologise.

Mr Abbott, who insisted it was Mrs Bishop’s decision to step down as Speaker, was later toppled by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

During her last address in the chamber, the 73-year-old reflected on the almost 30 years she spent as a federal politician - first in the Senate and then as an MP.

Last month, the Liberal Party dumped Mrs Bishop as their candidate for the northern Sydney seat of Mackeller for the upcoming election.

She admits she made a mistake not challenging Alexander Downer for the Liberal leadership in 1994 and paving the way to become the first female prime minister.

“I got off the plane and there was a galaxy of people saying, ‘What are you going to do?’ and I said I would back Downer and not run myself,” she said.

“Mistake.” The former Speaker made her political name as the scourge of loose government spending.

In 1985 she became the first woman president of the NSW Liberals and two years later was elected to the Senate.

She quickly gained a fearsome reputation on its estimates committees, keeping them sitting deep into the night as she harried ministers and public servants.

As Speaker she was known for excessive boot-outs of MPs during question time, usually from the opposition benches.

On Wednesday, she thanked her many good friends for their support and paid tribute to Don Randall, who died last year and whose seat in the chamber still houses a single white rose.

Mr Abbott was absent during her speech, but Mr Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop embraced the veteran after the chamber gave her a standing ovation.

Ms Bishop, who has held her seat since 1994 and been in parliament since 1987, will be replaced by moderate-backed Jason Falinski.

After a lengthy ballot process in the Sydney suburb of Dee Why, preselectors opted to support fresh blood in the seat by a final vote of 51 to 39.

Her loss to Mr Falinski came despite her receiving the backing of the Centre Right faction and maintaining significant support among local branches.

Mr Falinski received more votes than Ms Bishop In the first round of voting, receiving 40 votes compared to 37 for the incumbent MP.

Conservative-backed Walter Villatora, who had been supported by former prime minister Tony Abbott, received just 12 votes.

The victory for Mr Falinski suggests that moderate members of the state executive broke a factional agreement with the Centre Right to support its like-minded candidate.

Additional reporting: AAP