Why the government can’t ground high-flyer Bronwyn Bishop

SHE preferred a $5000 chopper ride to an hour’s drive up the highway and cost us $800,000 in a year, but there are reasons the big spending Speaker can’t be touched.

THE turbulence around Speaker Bronwyn Bishop’s $5000 helicopter flight has exposed some unsettled conditions within the Government and the Liberal Party.

Mrs Bishop and Prime Minister Tony Abbott will today continue to make clear they intend to reject criticisms of the Speaker’s spending patterns — including reports of two more chopper jaunts, $1000-a-day limo rides and a whopping $800,000 expenses bill — and will hope they fade before Parliament’s return in three weeks.

The PM today declared Mrs Bishop was on “probation”, which apparently means she will be in trouble should she take any more $5000 helicopter rides on the taxpayer’s tab.

As a punishment, this doesn’t mean much, except that Mr Abbott won’t push the matter further.

However, the Government already has been damaged by the controversy in ways it will find difficult to overcome, no matter the Speaker’s fate. The affair has exposed sensitive matters.

ABBOTT IS BEHOLDEN TO BRONWYN

The Prime Minister is a prisoner to his debt to the Speaker. Mrs Bishop has looked after Mr Abbott’s best interests at the local level, covering their neighbouring electorates of Mackellar and Warringah. She rules that Liberal domain.

And Mrs Bishop helped rouse the numbers to make Mr Abbott Opposition Leader in 2009.

One of his final public events before polling day at the 2013 election which made him Prime Minister was with her. It was a sign of how close they are.

This means Mr Abbott could be blocked between doing what is best for a longtime, loyal colleague and what is good for the Government and the Parliament.

Got your back ... Bronwyn Bishop and Tony Abbott are close.

BISHOP DOESN’T LIKE HOCKEY

The two have been fierce rivals within the NSW Liberal Party with Mr Hockey heading the moderates and Mrs Bishop prominent within the right faction. They have not been chummy for years.

During the 2009 leadership set-to Mrs Bishop worked as hard to block Mr Hockey as she did to elevate Mr Abbott. So when Mr Hockey agreed in a radio interview the helicopter flight didn’t pass the “sniff test”, it was on again between the Treasurer and the Speaker.

“Joe says some funny things sometimes doesn’t he. I think he said poor people don’t drive cars or something,” Mrs Bishop said on Saturday through a smile that carried no hint of frivolity.

This feud won’t heal quickly.

IT’S BRONWYN TIME

Mrs Bishop is a woman of remarkable resilience who has returned from serious career obstacles, but this might be her last chance to stage a come back.

It must be remembered that when she was a senator she was rated by many commentators as most-likely to become Australia’s first female Prime Minister. However, when the Coalition returned to office she lasted just five years as a minister.

John Howard dropped her as Aged Care Minister in November 2001 and it looked like that was it as far as senior office for her. The rise of Tony Abbott and the Coalition’s 2013 election victory reopened her options.

She wanted a ministry but was made Speaker instead, and tried to expand that job internationally by standing for president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union last October, campaigning on the theme it was time for a female leader.

Mrs Bishop is nowhere near planning a retirement from elected politics, but if she lost the Speaker’s job, her famed comeback ability would be cramped. And she would know this.

When it reigns ... Mrs Bishop in the Speaker’s chair.

THEY NEED HER AS SPEAKER

Mrs Bishop’s tendency to wander into partisan territory — attacking human rights commission Gillian Triggs and supporting Government legislation, for example — angers Labor a lot more than it riles her Liberal colleagues.

Mrs Bishop, who has a track record of booting Opposition MPs from the chamber, has helped the Government in some tight parliamentary spots, according to her reading of Standing Orders.

In May last year, one such moment was caught on video. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was being applauded for his Budget reply speech.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne is seen signalling Mrs Bishop to rise in her chair, forcing the acclaim to stop.

A similar service might not be forthcoming from Father of the House (longest serving MP) Philip Ruddock, or the Nationals Bruce Scott, both possible replacements for Mrs Bishop.

AUSTERITY STANDARDS

It will be more difficult for the Government to force through financial cuts on others when one of its own members is not bothering to heed austerity priorities.

Tony Abbott’s insistence MPs were doing it tough along with other Australians facing cutbacks looks ridiculous against the itemised accounts of Speaker Bishop.

This could make it harder for the Government to stop benefits to job “shirkers” and those it claims are rorting the welfare system when one of its own appears to be spending excessively.

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison could be the minister most affected by Mrs Bishop’s example.

Scandal? What expenses scandal? ... Mrs Bishop laughs off curly questions at the weekend.

Originally published as Why the government can’t ground high-flyer Bronwyn Bishop