Billy Adams: Bishop saga drags Parliament's reputation to new low

Bronwyn Bishop. Photo / AP

The age of entitlement is over for Lady Bronwyn. No more helicopter trips on the public purse.

Public resignations have rarely been so long coming. When the Australian Parliament's Speaker fell on her sword, it was with the assistance of a long overdue and still reluctant shove from her personal cheerleader, Tony Abbott.

Quite how one of the odder political scandals scaled such tortured heights is as baffling as the misplaced sense of grandeur that blinded its chief protagonist to her own delusion and hypocrisy.

Just before Bronwyn Bishop resigned she defiantly insisted she wouldn't resign because she owed it to the Australian people to keep working hard on their behalf. By doing so, she has secured a legacy as a potent symbol of the public's loss of respect in its elected representatives.

Their judgment is certainly more finely tuned than that of the Prime Minister, arguably the biggest casualty in this needlessly drawn-out affair. By defending the indefensible for almost three comical weeks, Abbott shredded his authority to the point of risking another backbench revolt.

Right-wing newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt, a key Abbott ally, condemned his close friend's "disastrous miscalculation" in backing Bishop for so long. "He had many other friends in Government who needed him to consider them, too," said Bolt. Not for the first time, Coalition MPs are questioning Abbott's suitability to lead them to another election.

Yet Abbott stubbornly refuses to concede ground. By saying there are "too many situations where members of Parliament can do things which are inside entitlement but outside public expectations", he has blamed the system for his Speaker's largesse.

Others, like Liberal Party leadership rival Malcolm Turnbull, believe the politics of privilege carries a certain responsibility. "The fundamental principle is often one of common sense," he told ABC radio. "It was Bronwyn's decision ... She didn't have to get a helicopter to Geelong, that's what set this thing off." Turnbull went to Geelong last week by tram and train.

To provide a circuit breaker, Abbott has announced a review of entitlements. It could open a can of worms or disappear into obscurity once public attention has waned.

Ironically, the chief beneficiary of Bishop's extravagance has been the opposition Labor Party. A month ago embattled leader Bill Shorten faced questions over deals and donations he secured as a union leader, but Choppergate stole the spotlight. Bishop is also a prized scalp. She brought unprecedented partisanship to a supposedly independent role, and ejected Labour MPs from the chamber almost 400 times. Shorten accused of Bishop of running a "parliamentary protection racket. [She turned] question time into a complete joke".

Anyone who has witnessed the juvenile antics in Canberra's self-serving political bubble will know how relative that assessment is, and why a fallen Bishop will do little to restore trust in its occupants.