One thing is certain: our federal politicians will not starve.

It’s now known that MPs and senators have access to an $86-a-day meal allowance on top of their other benefits attached to their job.

Someone on the single pension, wondering how they could feed themselves for 14 days on $723.10, might be interested to know their local member could be getting $602 for food during a standard seven-day sitting fortnight in Canberra.

And if you live within 30km of Parliament House the money could be yours. Of the two MPs and two senators representing the ACT, two claim the meal allowance. Two — Labor’s MP for Canberra Gai Brodtman and Labor Senator Katie Gallagher — pay for their own tucker.

Labor’s assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh, MP for Fenner, and Liberal Senator Zed Seselja, get the taxpayer to pay for their plates. Peter Hendy in the NSW seat of Eden Monaro lives in nearby Queanbeyan but also claims it.

They all are legally entitled to the money, whatever those on the single pension might think about the moral balance of the perk. And there are meal allowances in other employment areas.

The $86 allowance is taxable for ACT MPs, but for out-of-towners have to do with the tax-free $273-a-day allowance for coming to sitting day.

And let’s not forget the $195,000 base salary.

It is not as if the MPs are struggling to find somewhere to eat. They have their own dining room, access to a large staff canteen, to a famous cafe Aussies, and the Queens Terrace eatery — all in Parliament House.

Should they hunger for something off-campus, they have access to chauffeured cars to get to restaurants.

Or they could knock up something in the kitchenettes in their offices. Or bring sandwiches from home.

Yet another perk — the ability to claim running costs of a Canberra house you own, while still getting the travel allowance — is being reviewed by the Tax Office. And the Remuneration Tribal will look at other payments.

Andrew Leigh today confirmed he accessed the meal money.

Mr Leigh said one of the reasons for the allowance could be the “Parliament House environment has a limited number of places to eat when people are unable to leave the building”.

He told ABC radio: “What you eat has nothing to do with how far away you live.”

The highlighting of legal yet little-noted payments to MPs for coming to work comes after former Treasurer Joe Hockey — now ambassador in Washington — in 2012 declared the age of entitlement was over.

After his 2014 Budget, the then-prime minister assured voters suffering from cuts that MPs were also making sacrifices.

Minister were no longer travelling first class, for example.

But Tony Abbott recently noted the reduction in perks — such as expensive airline tickets for families — angered his colleagues.

“I made a series of decisions that were reasonable, even self-evident in principle, but which created much resentment in the partyroom,” wrote Mr Abbott.

“I stopped the employment of ¬immediate family members in MPs’ own offices because of the inevitable perceptions of favouritism; I ended first-class overseas travel out of respect for taxpayers; and I restricted family travel within Australia and spouse travel overseas because family very rarely accompanied business trips in the private sector.”

Imagine the anger if he had made them bring a cut lunch to work?