Prime Minister Tony Abbott signals budget compromise, calls on crossbenchers to offer alternatives

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has challenged key crossbenchers to provide alternative savings that "stack up", as he opens up the possibility of "adjustments" in budget negotiations.

Three months since handing down its first budget, the Government has failed to win enough support for measures such as the $7 GP co-payment, its dramatic restructuring of the tertiary sector and family benefit cuts.

On the weekend Mr Abbott said he was confident that with "an adjustment here, perhaps with an adjustment there, the vast majority of our budget measures will get through".

But the Government has not outlined what those changes might be and the Prime Minister says he will stick to the budget's "fundamentals".

"You have to deal with the Parliament that you've got and that's what the Government is doing," Mr Abbott told Macquarie Radio this morning.

"We're prepared to talk to the crossbench senators. What we're not prepared to do though is sell out the fundamentals, and the fundamentals are that we have absolutely got to get this budget crisis back under control.

"What I say to all of the crossbench senators is if you don't like what the Government is putting up, give us your alternative in terms of how we save money.

"And there were some alternatives that came up from one of the crossbench members of the Parliament, and frankly they didn't stack up for five minutes."

One key crossbench senator, Nick Xenophon, says he wants major changes to the budget.

"When the Government talks about an adjustment here, an adjustment there, it reminds me of going to the chiropractor, whereas in fact I think this budget needs some general anaesthetic and some radical surgery," he told AM.

Treasury officials have met today with the Palmer United Party, which holds three Senate seats and has formed a loose voting bloc with Victorian Motoring Enthusiast senator Ricky Muir.

But PUP leader Clive Palmer says his party's opposition to billions of dollars of budget measures has not changed.

"The budget as we see it is unfair to all Australians. It doesn't provide the opportunities for growth in the economy," he said.

"At this stage we've had no agreement between ourselves and the Government as to what we will support going into the Senate in the next couple of weeks."

Greens leader Christine Milne does not sound tempted by the call to negotiate - saying the budget is fundamentally unfair.

"No tinkering around the edges is going to fix that," she said.

"[Tony Abbott] needs to go back and actually ask the question - who can afford to contribute more in terms of revenue? And not attack the sick and the poor and the young and the unemployed."

Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop says negotiations with opposition parties and independents need to be constructive.

"In negotiations with the Senate, including Labor, the Greens and the crossbenchers, if they've got constructive suggestions we should consider them," she told AM.

"That's what negotiations should be; finding constructive ways to work together to achieve the over-riding necessity of fixing the budget line."

Health Minister Peter Dutton, who has been indicating possible exemptions to the contentious GP co-payment, says talks with the crossbenchers have been "productive".

"I'm hopeful that the Government can do a deal in relation to the GP co-payment, because there's certainly a lot of optimism from the senators - that's my assessment," he told NewsRadio.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has echoed the sentiment of his colleagues.

"We are realists. We do know that the Liberal National parties only have 33 senators in the Australian Senate," he told RN Breakfast.

"We need six crossbench senators or others to join with us to pass legislation in the Senate.

"It was always obvious there would have to be an adjustment here, an adjustment there, if we wanted to get some of those budget measures through the Parliament."

Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen has targeted Treasurer Joe Hockey in his criticism of the Government's handling of negotiations.

"The Treasurer has clearly lost control of his budget," he said.

"The Treasurer has gone into hiding as he fails to sell his budget to the Parliament or the people."

On Friday, Mr Hockey said he was "really genuinely sorry" for saying earlier in the week that the fuel excise increase would not affect poor people as much because they do not drive cars or drive very far.

Palmer calls for closure of immigration detention centres

But as negotiations continue, Mr Palmer has opened a new front of discontent with government policy, calling on it to close its immigration detention centres.

"It's costing a lot of money to keep all of these people locked up. It's probably about $6 billion to $8 billion a year," he said.

"There needs to be a better solution worked out by the Government immediately."

Mr Palmer says he is not linking this complaint with negotiations over any particular budget measure, but says the cost of immigration detention does not make sense in the current fiscal environment.

"You shouldn't be proposing things like the GP co-payment when you're wasting so much money locking people up for no good purpose," he said.

Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, federal-parliament, budget, bishop-julie, australia

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