Barry O'Farrell not only fell on his sword, he abolished his own entitlements as a former premier under reforms he introduced in 2012.

Under the changes, a former premier needs to have spent at least five years in the job to qualify for perks including free travel, a driver and an office. Mr O'Farrell was elected in 2011 and is two years off meeting the threshold.

When he made the announcement, Mr O'Farrell said: "We went to the election with a commitment to cut costs – it's only fair former premiers do their bit."

He was forced to stop short of slashing entitlements to former premiers Nick Greiner, Bob Carr and Neville Wran to avoid the threat of legal action.

He reduced the combined lifelong entitlements of the three long-serving former premiers $500,000 from $1.6 million to $1.1 million in 2012-13. He had wanted to go much further because the former premiers also received lucrative incomes in the private sector.

Mr Carr was a former consultant to Macquarie Bank, Mr Greiner has held multiple company directorships and Mr Wran was a merchant banker. But each produced a letter guaranteeing their government entitlements for life.