ON THE cusp of wielding power in the Senate, Fairfax MP and political leader Clive Palmer has asked "What would I do if I was Prime Minister" during a speech in Canberra.

The Palmer United Party is expected to share the balance of power in the Senate from July 1, when his three PUP senators enter the Upper House.

Mr Palmer described the government's obsession with cost-cutting as "bullshit", saying the so-called "debt crisis" was simply a vehicle for the government to win the next election.

Using a variety of slides, Mr Palmer told the audience at an event for the Committee for Economic Development of Australia how Australia's level of debt was the envy of the developed world.

"Generally speaking, the budget economic criteria that we have a debt problem is just bullshit," Mr Palmer said.

"If you talk to anybody at the OECD or the International Monetary Fund, they will tell you that."

Mr Palmer said rather than attacking costs by slashing payments to pensioners and the unemployed, the political leader gave a rapid-fire insight into where savings could be found.

He said $38 billion could be saved by scrapping the roll-out of the National Broadband Network to populated areas - "business can meet that".

Another $27 billion would land in the coffers if Australia purchased submarines "off the shelf" from the United States.

Dump the government's proposed Paid Parental Leave scheme and the Direct Action climate change policy too, he said.

"If our politicians had a political brain in their body, they would know that any one of those decisions is much more palatable than the ones being taken," he said.

Mr Palmer said unlike other politicians, he did not fear a loss at a future poll - a prospect he said would cheer his wife.

Instead, he said he wanted a country striving for "all that man could be, free and independent".

Come July 1, the Palmer United Party will have Glenn Lazarus, Jacqui Lambie and Zhenya Wang in the Senate with Ricky Muir from the Australian Motoring Enthusiasts Party adding a fourth vote to the bloc.