Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey after releasing his budget.
Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey after releasing his budget. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen







Federal cabinet met on Monday in a bid to reframe its
confused budget messaging as Labor confirmed it would not be
compromising on stalled measures forcing the government further towards
retreat or compromises with the independents.



The talks followed a harsh political reaction to suggestions
from senior ministers about possible tax increases or cuts to university
research spending if budget savings remained unlegislated.




The otherwise routine cabinet meeting came as even some of
the nation's conservative commentators urged the government to regain
the initiative, amid confusion over the language being used by senior
ministers to describe the budget impasse.



With the first-year anniversary of its election looming on
September 7, Coalition ministers met in what some referred to a "war
cabinet" - a reflection on the government's low popularity and the stiff
resistance its budget has met in the Senate.




Labor continued to offer no way forward for the government,
with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten telling his MPs to hold the line.



"I would assess that we have fought well in what's been 100
days since the budget – but the fight is not over and really, we've only
just begun to fight and that's what Australians expect of us," he said.



Mr Shorten pilloried the government declaring "our meeting
here is about fairness, the other meeting down the corridor is about
tactics".



But government sources played down the significance of the
cabinet talks, claiming that strategic discussions in cabinet took place
regularly and that detailed negotiations over individual initiatives
remained the province of senior ministers.



Government hopes of more productive talks with the Senate
crossbench appeared no closer, however, with key figures such as Palmer
United Party Senate leader, Glenn Lazarus branding talk of higher taxes,
if cuts cannot be approved, as "political suicide" for Tony Abbott.



That followed a weekend warning from Finance Minister Mathias
Cormann that revenue would have to be increased if spending could not
be cut.



Another crossbencher crucial to that outcome, South
Australia's independent, Nick Xenophon, characterised those comments as
"incredibly reckless and irresponsible", calling on the government to
instead have the courage to address tax concessions on superannuation if
it was genuine about its threat.



Labor labelled the Cormann warning tantamount to "extortion".



Senator Cormann said on Sunday the "the only alternative to
balance the books is to increase taxes" and Education Minister
Christopher Pyne said the government would have to examine the option of
cutting research funding if Parliament rejects his proposal to
deregulate the university sector.



Senator Lazarus said on Monday that the tactic would sound a death knell for the Coalition if followed through.



"I think it would be political suicide for the Abbott
government if they did try and introduce more taxes to the Australian
public, I can't see that happening," he told Fairfax Radio in Brisbane.



He said PUP would reject measures such as the proposed $7 fee for doctors' visits because they unfairly hit the poor.



Mr Shorten said again it was time for the government to dump its budget.



"We've seen in recent days the government move from insulting
the Australian  people, telling them they just don't understand the
unfair budget when in fact they do," Mr Shorten told reporters.



"The government's moved from insulting the people of Australia to threatening the people of Australia."



Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Monday that he
"fully understands" voters' concerns but likened the budgetary situation
to a "financial melanoma", which "will kill you" if left unaddressed.



 "In five, 10, 15 years' time, the chickens will come home to
roost. We will be closing down hospitals, we won't have an ABC, we
won't be able to defend ourselves because we will have run out of
money," he said.