The Abbott government has made some important savings but to suggest it has made deep cuts is "completely bogus".
Those are the thoughts of prominent economist Chris Richardson, who says attempted savings have to be viewed against an existing "large bucket" of promises to increase spending in the coming decade.
The economy also keeps wiping out any savings that are being made because of the negative impact on revenue from falling commodity prices and slow wage growth, the Deloitte Access Economics economist says in his latest quarterly business outlook.
The ongoing commitment in Iraq will further challenge the government's attempt to rein in spending growth in addition to negotiating with a hostile Senate on savings proposals.
"The federal government's fall in the polls has also seen it put back its approach to achieve savings," he said.
Mr Richardson forecasts inflation-adjusted government spending growth to average 2.5 per cent in the next three financial years, only slightly slower than the decade average of 2.8 per cent.
"There's still a heap of hard decisions that this nation ... will have to face at some stage,' he said in the report released on Monday.
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