Former prime minister Tony Abbott, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and more than a dozen federal MPs have dialled up their taxpayer-funded mobile phone bills to $1000 plus a week in figures from January 2016 to December 2017.

The cost of supplying mobile phones to travelling representatives and their staff can vary from zero to more than $8500 per phone per month, a Sydney Morning Herald analysis has found.

The highest spending politician on the mobile phone was Coalition MP Andrew Laming, who rang up charges of $8669 in November 2016. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The highest spending politician on the blower was Andrew Laming, Coalition MP for Bowman in Queensland, who, on a single phone, dialled up charges of $8669 in November 2016.

In July 2014, he also recorded the highest monthly mobile data bill of $8457, in figures from January 2014 to December 2017.