Latest batch of retiring parliamentarians to cost taxpayers more than $2m a year

Outgoing MPs and Senators are set to cost taxpayers up to $4500 a week in generous pension payments.

Twenty-seven retiring politicians are eligible for large annual pensions under the Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Scheme, the Herald Sun reports.

The program came to end under John Howard's government in 2004 but the changes were not retrospective, meaning parliamentarians elected before 2004 remain entitled to annual payments of more than $100,000.

The majority of the outgoing MPs and Senators will pocket an annual minimum pension of $118,000, or 75 percent of a current MP's notional salary of $157,500.

But the figure can increase significantly when bonuses for ex-ministers and officer holders as well as for time served in parliament are taken into account.

Bronwyn Bishop is expected to earn up to $250,000 annually, having spent almost 30 years in parliament and served as a minister as well as speaker.

Politicians who served in parliament for more than 20 years, including Warren Truss, Philip Ruddock, Bruce Scott and Ms Bishop, also enjoy up to 10 free domestic return flights a year.

The program currently costs taxpayers more than $44 million a year and this year's batch of former parliamentarians will add another $2.3 million to the bill annually.