Treasurer Joe Hockey has signalled wide-ranging cuts to come in the May federal budget, warning that all Australians will have to do the "heavy lifting".

The Government has just received the final report of the Commission of Audit - a document set to guide the drafting of the Government's first budget.

In a series of media interviews this morning, the Treasurer fuelled the annual flurry of budget speculation by pointing to figures showing the nation's books were on course for a decade of deficits.

He described the growth in expenditure, set up under the previous Labor government, like a "tsunami coming across the water".

"Unless we take immediate remedial action in the budget, then Australia will never have a surplus," he said.

"The fact is we have to address this and address this fast.

"And the challenge is that everyone in Australia has to help to do the heavy lifting in the budget, because if the burden falls on a few, the weight of that burden will crush them.

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"Everyone is going to have to make a contribution - big business, small business, all people from all demographics across the community."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who is in Perth campaigning ahead of Saturday's Western Australia Senate election re-run, has dismissed the Government's dire budget warnings as a political strategy.

"What they are doing is they are creating straw-men targets and then they are going to cut them away," Mr Shorten said.

"They have no intention of achieving that target, yet they actually are pretending to inflate the deficit so they can justify their sense of emergency."

NDIS likely to face changes in budget

Mr Hockey has refused to outline where the cuts will be made before he hands down his first budget on May 13.

But he has indicated welfare payments will not be spared.

"We are endeavouring to be as fair and as reasonable as possible, but we have a mandate and there is an expectation in the community that we are going to fix the structural problems of the budget," he told AM on Monday.

The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which passed Parliament with bipartisan support last May, is also slated to face changes.

"If we don't get on top of the proper management of the NDIS, not only would it not be sustainable, but it could end up as big a farce as the pink batts program or the $900 test program," Mr Hockey said.

The Government has repeatedly expressed concerns about the way the NDIS has been set up and its funding.

The latest question marks over its future has triggered an angry reaction from Mr Shorten.

"I am revolted by the fact that the Abbott Government has had nothing good to say about the National Disability Insurance Scheme," he said.

"The Abbott Government is playing dangerously with the hopes of hundreds of thousands of people with profound or severe disabilities."

We want to get it right: Abbott

Also campaigning in Perth, Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed a formal agreement with WA Premier Colin Barnett to set up three NDIS trial sites.

Facing questions about whether the Government may delay the roll-out of the NDIS, Mr Abbott said that he wanted to "get it right".

"We will absolutely deliver on all of the agreements that have been negotiated with all of the states and territories," Mr Abbott said.

"We're also listening to the NDIS board because we want to make sure that we get it right."

He said the purpose of a trial site was to learn, adding that "as time goes by we will be refining and improving what we're doing".

Commission of Audit reports handed over to Government

The Government has said its budget decisions will be based on the recommendations of its Commission of Audit, set up last October.

The commission has delivered two reports, which the Government says will be made public, but the Treasurer has resisted pressure to reveal when.

"The fact is we have got to go through the details of it," he told Sky News on Monday.

"So we are moving as quickly as we can, but it is important that we work through all the issues carefully and methodically which is what we are doing."

The Opposition says the Government should release the audit reports before Western Australians cast their vote for the state's six Senate spots.