THE government is still confident it can get its toughest budget measures through the upper house, despite rumblings they’ll be blocked.
A $7 GP co-payment, changes to the dole and a raised pension age have proved difficult to sell, and Labor, the Australian Greens and the Palmer United Party have vowed to oppose the measures.
But Finance Minister Mathias Cormann warned against making assumptions about blocks to budget measures, saying his experience in the Senate had shown him not to take any initial opposition as gospel.
Labor had opposed the tax on higher income earners, or deficit levy, but had since decided to support it, he said.
“Immediately in the days and weeks following the budget, all sorts of people say all sorts of things,” he told Sky News on Sunday.
“And then on reflection … people progressively change their mind.”
Senator Cormann said the government would not consider watering down measures before presenting them to the parliament.
The main hurdle for the government will be Clive Palmer, whose party will be key to getting the budget through the Senate after July.
Senator Cormann said he would be happy to sit down and have a meal with Mr Palmer in the “appropriate circumstances”.
“Clearly we will engage with him in the battle of ideas,” he said.
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull caused controversy in recent weeks for having a “social” dinner with Mr Palmer.
Senator-elect David Leyonhjelm doubts Palmer United Party members will vote together in the long term.
The three incoming PUP senators, plus Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party member Ricky Muir, don’t have a “common ideology” or “anything that binds them together”, Mr Leyonhjelm told Channel Ten.
“On that basis, there’s no strong reason, other than a fear of outsiders I suppose, for them to work together,” he said.