Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has accused Tony Abbott of being more afraid of Speaker Bronwyn Bishop than Australian voters.
Mr Shorten said the scandal surrounding Mrs Bishop's travelling expenses has paralysed the government and parliament.
"We all know that Mr Abbott will not stand up for pensioners, for students, for workers, for families, but he will go to the ends of the earth to protect Bronwyn Bishop," he told reporters in Melbourne.
Mr Shorten said the prime minister needed to show some leadership.
He said Mr Abbott knows what needs to be done, as do many in the government.
"Mr Abbott has to show some courage and say to Bronwyn Bishop, `you must resign'. Nothing less than that is good enough."
Deputy Nationals Leader Barnaby Joyce believes Bronwyn Bishop should continue as Speaker and be allowed to fix up her "mistakes".
That's despite new allegations of her extravagant taxpayer-funded travel seemingly breaking daily since it was revealed she spent more than $5000 on a chartered helicopter fight to attend a Liberal Party function.
News Corp reported on Sunday she spent more than $1000 on two chauffeur-driven car trips the same day she used free tickets to attend the opening of Yes, Prime Minister at a Sydney theatre with two staffers.
It says over the past five years, taxpayers have spent more than $260,000 on chauffeured cars, limousines and private-plated vehicles to drive Mrs Bishop around Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and other capital cities.
Fairfax Media reports the growing scandal has forced Mrs Bishop to cancel a taxpayer-funded trip to the US at the end of August to attend an international summit of parliamentary speakers.
In the past week, various government frontbenchers have stopped short of supporting Mrs Bishop, even though she finally apologised for the helicopter trip, repaid the money, and asked the Department of Finance to investigate her expense claims.
But Mr Joyce is standing behind the Speaker.
"I'm not going to start throwing stones at Bronwyn," he told Sky News on Sunday.
"If she has made a mistake, and everyone makes mistakes ... I think it should be within our capacity to say fix up the mistakes and get on with the job."
He said if you started throwing rocks, there wouldn't be a person left in the parliament because everybody would have an issue somewhere in the past.
"We will be getting rid of good politicians on both sides of the house very quickly," he said.
Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer will be putting a motion of no confidence in the Speaker when parliament resumes in a week's time.
He says Prime Minister Tony Abbott has to show some leadership on the issue.
"If she can't run her entitlements, how can Abbott run the country, that's what people say," Mr Palmer told ABC TV.
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson believes Mrs Bishop shouldn't just resign as Speaker, but should retire from parliament.
"I think a lot of Australians are wondering why perhaps someone like Bronwyn Bishop, who has been in politics for a long time, has had a lot to offer, is not looking at life beyond politics," the senator told ABC television.
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