Elle Hunt 

Wallets out for Bronny: Twitter reacts to Speaker’s resignation with hashtag

Australian Twitter users respond to Bronwyn Bishop’s resignation as speaker with glee, tweeting photos of their wallets and purses with #putyourwalletsout
  
  

Vale Bronwyn Bishop – Twitter users have begun a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the former Speaker with the hashtag #putyourwalletsout.
Vale Bronwyn Bishop – Twitter users have begun a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the former Speaker with the hashtag #putyourwalletsout. Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AP

Twitter users have seen off Madam Speaker with a hashtag and pictures of their wallets or purses after she announced her resignation on Sunday following weeks of criticism over expenses claims that had threatened to derail the government.

The #putyourwalletsout phrase was coined by Sydney-based Twitter user Steve Lopez, who accompanied it with a photo of his wallet. Lopez ran as an independent candidate for the seat of Granville in the New South Wales state election earlier this year.

The scandal began on 15 July when it was revealed Bishop spent more than $5,000 on chartering a luxury helicopter for an 80km trip from Melbourne to Geelong for a Liberal party fundraiser.

Other examples of questionable expenditure of public funds came to light in the following weeks, including allegations that she used taxpayer dollars to attend the weddings of two colleagues.

After further allegations over the weekend that she had hired a private aircraft to take her 160km between Sydney and Nowra – at a cost of $6,000 – and spent more than $1,000 on limousines in one day, Bishop resigned from the position of Speaker.

The hashtag is based on a reference to the tribute to cricketer Phillip Hughes, whose death in November last year was marked on social media with #putoutyourbats. The idea was later replicated with #putyourdressout, remembering schoolteacher and bride-to-be Stephanie Scott, and #putyourscarfout, for Adelaide Crows coach Phil Walsh.

Bronwyn Bishop’s standing down as Speaker is not comparable, but Twitter nonetheless embraced Lopez’s joke with enthusiasm.

Lopez said in a post to Facebook that he never imagined his initial tweet would prompt this sort of reaction.

“I’m glad I could help provide Australians an outlet for their disgust and/or rage in a very simple yet effective way with the behaviours of not only Bronwyn Bishop but most of our politicians.

Politicians like Bronwyn - and let’s face it, there are lots of them - help themselves plenty to our money, maybe we can make it easier for them:‪ #‎PutYourWalletsOut‬.”

 

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