A coalition of sexual abuse survivor groups call for former governor-general Peter Hollingworth — who was forced to resign after a series of scandals over his handling of sexual abuse allegations against priests — to be denied his taxpayer-funded entitlements

Documents provided under Freedom of Information show that in 2015–16, Dr Hollingworth spent more than $275,000 on office and travel expenses, on top of his pension for that year of $328,000

The groups said in their letter that the current Governor-General Act, which allows Dr Hollingworth to receive the public-funded salary and allowances, should be changed.

"Under existing legislation a former governor-general could be convicted of a crime and imprisoned and the Government would be obliged to continue to pay them," the letter stated

"At the time of drafting the legislation, the Parliament did not foresee that a former governor-general would have betrayed the public trust so severely … and therefore the legislation contains no provision to stop ongoing payments of public money."

The group would like to see a Code of Conduct attached to the legislation, linking ongoing payments to a character test, and a provision to cease payments to a former governor-general if it's no longer considered to be in the public interest