Prime Minister Tony Abbott has suggested the controversy over former speaker Bronwyn Bishop’s travel expenses may have ended her political career.

Mrs Bishop resigned from the position at the weekend but in a statement said she would continue to serve on the backbench.

Mr Abbott said he and the Government had paid a price for the furore but Mrs Bishop had paid the highest price.

Tony Abbott stood by Ms Bishop during the scandal. Photo: AAP

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“She’s lost a position that she loved and it’s likely her career in the Parliament is substantially at an end,” Mr Abbott told FIVEaa Radio on Tuesday morning.

Mr Abbott announced a wide-ranging review of parliamentary entitlements after Mrs Bishop resigned as speaker following weeks of pressure over her taxpayer-funded expenditure.

Liberal MPs are currently in negotiations about who should become the next speaker but Mr Abbott said there would be no “captain’s picks”.

Victorian MP Tony Smith and South Australian Andrew Southcott have been touted as possible replacements, with “Father of the House” Philip Ruddock saying colleagues had also approached him about taking the chair.

“I’m going to try to avoid so-called captain’s picks here. In the end this is a matter for the Liberal partyroom to choose a nominee for the speakership,” Mr Abbott said.

Nationals MP and Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce continues to support Mrs Bishop, saying she is a decent person who made a mistake.

He said other MPs could find themselves in a similar position and he did not believe there had been an intentional move to rort Australian taxpayers.

“Good people on both sides of the political fence will soon be without a job and I don’t think that is a good thing,” he said.

“I think no-one actually put the money in their pockets. They’re trying to do their job, they’re trying to do the right thing overwhelmingly.”

Previous recommendations ‘not implemented’

Meanwhile, a member of a independent panel that reviewed parliamentary entitlements five years ago said he was frustrated some of the biggest recommendations were never implemented.

Former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission boss Allan Fels was part of the 2010 Belcher review, chaired by then first assistant secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Barbara Belcher.

Professor Fels said only 17 of the 39 recommendations made by the review had more or less been taken on board, adding governments lacked the motivation to fix a flawed system.

“A couple of really big ones weren’t moved on. One was that every member of parliament should have on their website a link to their claims made of the finance department,” he told the ABC’s AM program.

It’s time for a proper overhaul of the system, says Allan Fels. Photo: Getty

“We did get some changes [through] but it’s also true that parliament, both governments, are pretty slow to act on the key recommendations.”

He blamed “a lack of political will” and said all governments had been ambivalent about setting up an independent and accountable system.

The committee also recommended a way of simplifying a complicated collection of laws and practices.

“And we gave them a method of cleaning that up through legislation and regulation, but that was not adopted,” Professor Fels said.

However, he said the entitlements scandal that brought down Mrs Bishop may be a turning point.

“I think the latest development in the Bronwyn Bishop saga may have changed that … if parliament has the will, a genuine good system of entitlement, it takes it off the daily agenda, off the political agenda,” he said.

“The system at the moment almost automatically generates mini scandals and problems and embarrassment and it needs to be cleaned up.

“If we want to clean it up for good we need independence and transparency.”

However, Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson told the ABC’s 7.30 program the Government would look at the balance of the Belcher review recommendations.

“I will be referring the remainder of those across to this committee to have a look at and see whether they think action should be taken in relation to them,” Mr Ronaldson said.

“We need to put in place a system that provides clarity for members and senators.”

Members of the new review committee are expected to be announced later this week.

– ABC