Liberal MP Christopher Pyne called on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to clarify speculations that the change of speakership in the House in 2011 had her prior knowledge, contrary to her earlier claims that shift came as a surprise for the Australian Labor Party leadership.

Mr Pyne was reacting to the revelation issued on Wednesday by Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, alleging that Ms Gillard got wind of former House Speaker Harry Jenkins's plan to relinquish his post, weeks before he actually quit.

In a surprise move, Mr Jenkins tendered his resignation on Nov. 24, which momentarily left the House Speaker post vacant.

But the vacuum was shortly filled when Liberal MP Peter Slipper was voted to assume the position, an act that was soon followed by his decision to resign from the Liberal Party to become an independent.

Political analysts viewed Mr Slipper's move then as actually favoring the Gillard government, which lacks a clear majority in the Parliament but can now rely on the support of a non-hostile House Speaker.

While the House Speaker is prevented from participating on normal voting procedures, he can break a deadlock using his swing vote.

In light of the recent controversy where Ms Gillard reneged from supporting the gambling reform bill she allegedly pledged to Independent MP Andrew Wilkie, Pyne suggested on Thursday that the prime minister needs to come out and issue a definite explanation on Mr Xenophon's exposé.

In the same way that Ms Gillard had admitted this week that her support on Mr Wilkie's advocacy may have to wait for some more years, Mr Pyne stressed that Labor leader must come clean, too, on this issue.

"Julia Gillard needs to today explain exactly what she knew and when she knew it, and who told her about the circumstances surrounding the dispatching of Harry Jenkins and the ascension of Peter Slipper," Mr Pyne was reported by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) as saying.

The Australian people, he added, needs to be enlightened that what happened just before the Parliament went into hiatus would not eventually lead to undue favors for the political agenda of the ALP.

Mr Xenophon has suggested that with the ALP enjoying better numbers in the Parliament, Ms Gillard is less constrained to withhold her support from previously agreed commitments with some members of the House.

Case in point is Mr Wilkie's gambling reform legislation, which chiefly aims to mandate betting limits among other provisions, that is now reportedly on its way to being watered-down into a trial version, according to media reports.

Without Ms Gillard's explicit approval, Mr Wilkie was resigned to the fact that unleashing the full force of the gambling reforms bill will have to wait.