Tony Abbott ousted: Prime Minster could walk away with reported $300,000 pension

It isn't all bad news for the PM, despite losing a leadership challenge

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks during a press conference in the Blue Room, at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia (EPA)

Tony Abbott can be comforted by one thing as he processes his ousting at the hands of Malcolm Turnbull - the sizeable pension he could walk away with after 21 years in Australian Parliament.

The former leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister was unseated by the man he ousted as the leader of the Party in 2009.

Mr Abbott led Australia as Prime Minister between September 2013 and 2015, meaning he was in office for less time than his predecessors Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

According to a report by the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH), Mr Abbott will take a considerable paycut after being ousted as Prime Minister, where he earned over $530,000 (£245,000) annually.

However, his 21 years in Parliament have left him with an average pension of $307,542 (£142,000), a figure the SMH says includes his time as cabinet minister, the leader of the opposition and the two years he spent as Prime Minister.

Australian law means he could take half of his pension in a lump sum of up to $1.53 million (£707, 800) plus other entitlements if he does leave Parliament.

Mr Turnbull's support of same-sex marriage, a carbon trading scheme and making Australia a Republic puts him in stark contrast to Mr Abbott, whose popularity fell behind that of the Labor Party's in recent opinion polls.

After launching his leadership challenge, the multi-millionaire vowed to deliver the economic leadership Australia needs to prosper and to remain a "high wage, generous social welfare net, first-world society".