Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has made it clear to her senior colleagues she will fight any attempt to cut the foreign aid budget.

The Australian newspaper reported on Thursday that a two-year pause in future aid increases was the leading option to cover the cost of the fight against terrorism.

In an interview on Radio National Breakfast on Thursday morning, Ms Bishop said: "There has been no discussion within the Cabinet about that. We will abide by the commitments we made in relation to foreign aid."

After the interview Ms Bishop went to a leadership meeting that included the most senior members of the Government.

A source at the meeting told the ABC Ms Bishop raised the article and asked which Cabinet minister was talking to the media about her portfolio without consulting her.

A colleague suggested that every portfolio would have to look at further budget savings in light of the increased costs of deploying troops in the Middle East - costs which are expected to run to $500 million a year.

Ms Bishop replied that she would fight any attempt to make further cuts to the aid budget.

This is the second time in a week that Ms Bishop has slapped down attempts by her colleagues to drift into her patch.

She has also scotched an idea to develop a homeland security department, championed by Immigration Minister Scott Morrison.

The proposed super-department would have encroached on her own portfolio by incorporating the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS).

It would also have poached parts of Defence and taken in the Australian Federal Police. Both of those departments are led by Ms Bishop's West Australian colleagues David Johnston and Michael Keenan.

The moves are a sign that Ms Bishop has emerged as one of the most powerful people in the Abbott Cabinet.

She is held in high regard by her department for her poise, diligence and competence. And she is on a shortlist of leadership contenders which includes Treasurer Joe Hockey and Mr Morrison.

Budget has already taken axe to growth in foreign aid

Ms Bishop's stand on aid is a sign that she believes her portfolio has given enough to the cause of trying to return the budget to surplus.

The 2014 budget took the axe to growth in aid, cutting it by $7.6 billion over five years.

Asked about future cuts to the aid budget, the Prime Minister said: "We have slowed the growth of foreign aid.

"Foreign aid was slated to explosively grow under the former government.

"Every year the former government put off the growth but nevertheless it was still slated to grow explosively under the former government. We've restrained that growth, essentially to [the inflation rate] in coming years. I think this is a reasonable change, but it certainly means that Australia will continue to have a very strong and effective foreign aid program in the months and years ahead."

The May budget's cuts to aid were greeted with horror by non-government organisations, with World Vision Australia chief executive Tim Costello saying they made up about one-fifth of overall budget savings.

And with much of the Government's planned savings tied up in the Senate, aid is an easy target because the Coalition can make changes without having to get Upper House approval.

The Gillard government also slowed the growth in foreign aid, and diverted $375 million of it to pay for the expenses of asylum seekers on the Australian mainland.

Labor and the Coalition's cuts fly in the face of a pledge both made in 2012 to lift foreign aid to 0.5 per cent of gross national income by 2015.

Labor's last budget moved that target out to 2017, but there was widespread scepticism that it would be hit.

A National Commission of Audit report on aid noted "the growth path has been revised on multiple occasions in the recent past".