The Coalition government has appointed several former Liberal MPs to lucrative jobs at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on the final parliamentary sitting day before the budget.

Attorney-General Christian Porter announced the appointments on Thursday afternoon, including a seven-year part-time role for former Senate president Stephen Parry, who quit politics in 2017 due to his dual citizenship.

Attorney-General Christian Porter said the AAT required additional members to cope with an increased caseload. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Howard-era Veterans' Affairs minister De-Anne Kelly, of the National Party, was appointed to a part-time role – after years of lobbying to join the tribunal, according to close sources.

Former Liberal speaker of the West Australian Parliament Michael Sutherland was handed a five-year, full-time job on the tribunal. Mr Sutherland caused controversy when he called refugee activists and environmentalists "a bunch of cockroaches" who were "crawling all over the seat" while he was unsuccessfully seeking a federal Senate vacancy in 2017.