Any penalty imposed on Peter Slipper should take into account the heavy personal price the former Speaker has already paid, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says.
ACT chief magistrate Lorraine Walker on Wednesday will reveal the sentence to be imposed on Slipper, after he was convicted for dishonestly using government-issued taxi vouchers.
Mr Albanese said Slipper already had paid a "very heavy price", which should be taken into account.
"His political career is finished, he's had some real issues in terms of his personal life with his marriage and his health," he told Sky News on Tuesday.
"At the end of the day he's a human being."
Mr Albanese said many other members of parliament, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, had previously been able to pay back expenses under the so-called Minchin protocol.
The protocol, named after former Liberal minister Nick Minchin, requires that whenever an allegation of entitlement misuse is raised, the finance department considers its credibility.
The MP is sought for a response and the department may then recommend they repay any money to which they were not entitled.
However, serious offences are referred to police.
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