Veteran NSW MP Jillian Skinner is still to formally resign despite announcing her retirement almost three weeks ago.

The NSW Speaker’s office had still not received a written resignation from the former health minister on Thursday morning, prompting opposition questions.

NSW Labor called for an audit of the North Shore MP’s spending from the time she announced her resignation in late January.

“As Mrs Skinner has not officially resigned she is still entitled to access a communications budget and ‘electoral allowance’ worth over $100,000,” Labor MP Hugh McDermit said.

A by-election for Ms Skinner’s seat of North Shore can’t be called until she formally hands her resignation letter to the Speaker of the lower house.

Ms Skinner, 72, was not at her Neutral Bay office on Thursday morning, with staff unsure where she was but insisting she was still working.

Despite delaying her seat’s by-election, Ms Skinner told the Seven Network on Wednesday she still had a “few things to tidy up” before she handed in her resignation but said she planned to do so “very soon”.

Labor leader Luke Foley accused Premier Gladys Berejiklian of lacking the authority to take charge and push Ms Skinner out the door.

There are understood to be four main candidates for North Shore preselection.
They include former premier Barry O’Farrell’s chief of staff, Anna McPhee, former president of the NSW Liberal Women’s Council, Felicity Wilson, former chief of staff to Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, Tim James, and academic Jessica Kean.

A Labor source said they understood Ms Skinner was working to help Ms Kean gain preselection.

The premier was grilled about Ms Skinner’s no-show in parliament on Thursday.

“As usual those opposite are full of hypocrisy,” Ms Berejiklian said, while pointing to former Labor MP Noreen Hay’s failure to immediately resign last year.

“I note there was a considerable period of time between when the former member for Wollongong announced her intention to resign and then gave a valedictory speech,” she said.

The ex-Labor deputy whip took leave for at least a month before eventually quitting, Ms Berejiklian added.

The premier also used question time to thank Ms Skinner for her decades-long service in parliament and for “the outstanding work she did in health”.

– AAP