Sussan Ley will stand aside as health minister amid a string of scandals surrounding her use of taxpayer-funded trips to the Gold Coast, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says.
Mr Turnbull says he's asked the secretary of his department to investigate Ms Ley's travel claims.
She will stand aside without ministerial pay until the investigation is complete.
"I expect the highest standards from my ministers in all aspects of their conduct, and especially the expenditure of public money," he said in a statement on Monday.
It comes amid revelations Ms Ley bought a $795,000 apartment during a taxpayer-funded trip to the Gold Coast in 2015.
She caved into mounting pressure to step aside on Monday morning, after it was revealed she claimed travel costs to the Gold Coast for New Year's Eve celebrations two years in a row.
Ms Ley told reporters on Monday she travelled to the Gold Coast for New Year's celebrations at the request of a prominent Queensland businesswoman.
In 2013, she claimed flights and taxis to attend a business lunch and the following year, attended the businesswoman's annual New Year's Eve event, she said.
Ms Ley insists she did not claim accommodation in either year, and when asked if her decision to pay back some of the costs for the Gold Coast trip was an admission that you have broken the rules, Ms Ley said it wasn't.
"It wasn't an admission that I've broken the rules and I'm very confident that the investigations will demonstrate that no rules were broken whatsoever." she said.
"I also recognise, as you describe it, the pub test, and I recognise that for people who live in my electorate, who work hard, who understand about living on fixed incomes and have experienced a life I've experienced in the past, this has a look that I don't understand those issues and I don't recognise them and in fact the opposite is the case.
"So I am making available my records and I'm very confident that they will be within the rules. My offer to repay the funds was particularly because, in hindsight, the character of my visit to the Gold Coast on this particular occasion changed the moment I unexpectedly was the successful bidder at that auction."
When asked if she would be releasing her details and diaries of her trips to the general public and media, she said: "I will be providing all of that information to the two independent investigations that are happening."
"It is not always appropriate for ministers to release all of their diaries and I just want to touch on that. People imagine that we travel the country and we just go to official openings, cut ribbons and make media announcements," she said.
"In fact, for a health minister, the opposite is the case. I do spend a lot of time talking to patients. I do spend a lot of time one-on-one with people who have experiences in the health system, with people who are involved in the manufacture, the access and the supply of medicines, which is a particular interest of mine, as anyone who knows my record as health minister will tell you, and how we get patients to access those medicines is vital. So now, my diary is available to be inspected, as I said, by the Department of Finance and the Prime Minister's secretary.
"Will I allow the media access to go on a fishing expedition? Perhaps at the cost of confidentiality of some of the both confidential and commercial in-confidence meetings I have - no, I won't."
