Neither Tony Abbott or Barnaby Joyce are expected to profit from their appointments as special envoys for the Morrison Government.
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Sources have told Fairfax there is apparently no provision for serving MPs who have been appointed as special envoys to receive extra pay.
Special envoys are not listed on the Remuneration Tribunal's salary schedules for parliamentary officers.
According to a spokesman, the tribunal has never made a determination on a special envoy or been asked to make a recommendation on what they should be paid.
When the former deputy prime minister, National's MP Barnaby Joyce, was offered the post of "special envoy for the drought" in the wake of last week's leadership spill he accepted with alacrity.
Tony Abbott, the former prime minister, was offered the post of special envoy for indigenous affairs. He did not accept until Tuesday.
It is understood many of the details relating to the appointments of Mr Abbott and Mr Joyce, including how they will work with the agriculture and indigenous affairs ministers, are still being considered.
It has been reported Mr Abbott will be given additional staff.
The former PM, who has visited remote Indigenous communities annually for the last decade, has already spoken with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders about the role.
His appointment has proved controversial with many in the Indigenous space criticising the decision.
Senator Pat Dodson noted that while the Aboriginal people had used last year's constitutional convention to ask for a voice to parliament, they had been given Mr Abbott as a special envoy instead. It was astonishing he said.
"Labor is seriously concerned about appointing the ex-self-appointed "prime minister for Indigenous affairs" to the role of 'envoy', given his ignorant, hopeless and frankly offensive track record on indigenous issues."
Mr Abbott should know more about what is involved in being a "special envoy" than most.
One of his acts as prime minister was to elevate Philip Ruddock, the former "father of the Australian parliament", to the role of "Special envoy for citizenship and community engagement" in May 2015.
Mr Ruddock was later appointed "special envoy to the prime minister for human rights" by Malcolm Turnbull in February 2016.
