Politicians would have to pay back double the value of expenses claimed incorrectly and be relegated to economy class on short domestic flights under a new plan to curb expenses scandals.

In a bill to be introduced next month, independent senator Nick Xenophon will also seek an independent expenses umpire and to make politicians comply with a 30-day deadline for reporting travel details and pay at least half the cost of travel if there is any political party business involved.

Senator Xenophon said the proposed changes were "triggered by the Bronwyn Bishop 'chopper-gate' saga" and intended to make the system more transparent and accountable.

"The government really needs to understand that, unless we fix the system of parliamentary entitlements, make it more transparent and accountable ... then pollies will continue to be on the nose," he said on Friday.

Currently, parliamentary entitlements and travel are reported in six-month intervals and are handled by the Finance Department.

Politicians have unlimited domestic business class travel for official business. If a claim is found to be a mistake, they must pay it back with a 25 per cent penalty.

The government introduced this penalty and cracked down on retired politicians' travel perks in recent amendments.

"I think the federal government needs to be shamed into doing the right thing when it comes to parliamentary entitlements. Look, both sides have done it. This is a problem across the board. Mistakes are made regularly in terms of politicians' entitlements but there's a better way of doing this," Senator Xenophon said.

A spokesman for Special Minister of State Michael Ronaldson said the government had not seen the details but did not have plans to make further changes.

Labor won't come to a position on the legislation until it is released but manager of opposition business Tony Burke said the problem with Mrs Bishop's claim was that it did not comply with the current rules.

"I don't accept for one minute that we can say this was within the rules. I think Nick Xenophon there is accepting Bronwyn Bishop at her word, while I want to see what documents she signed.

"I don't think we should just say this means the rules are wrong; no, let's check whether or not the rules have been broken, because on the evidence we have so far, it looks like they have."

Labor has referred the helicopter scandal to the Australian Federal Police and the Greens are calling for an independent investigation.

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