Julie Bishop has taken on the role of Acting Prime Minister while Malcolm Turnbull is overseas.
The prime minister left for Israel on Sunday night after he delayed the trip to deal with the fallout from losing his deputy, Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce after he was disqualified by the High Court.
Mr Joyce is now contesting a by-election to return to parliament as the member for New England, but his deputy also fell foul of the dual citizenship laws.
Northern Territory senator Nigel Scullion is now the Nationals interim leader in parliament until Mr Joyce's future is determined at the December 2 by-election.
Mr Turnbull is overseas until later in the week. Normally Mr Joyce would fill in for him, and the Nationals had reportedly pushed for Senator Scullion to take on the job.
But the prime minister said the normal order of precedence was for the Deputy Liberal leader - Ms Bishop - to keep his seat warm.
No one, however, will be named as Deputy Prime Minister while Mr Joyce is absent from parliament. That role is filled by the Nationals leader in coalition and he remains in that role.
