Budget on right path, says Frydenberg

The government has the right policies to fix the budget, but must bring people with it, new Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says.

Tony Abbott may have reshuffled his frontbench to reset and refresh the government, but his new assistant treasurer has indicated the coalition won't reboot its unpopular budget.

Josh Frydenberg will be sworn in on Tuesday and will play a key part in revamping the government's fortunes in 2015.

But he says there are no plans to overhaul the budget, which is largely to blame for the coalition's poor polling.

Mr Frydenberg described the Medicare co-payment as an "important reform" and said tertiary education reforms would enable universities to compete on a global stage.

The government's key job was repairing the budget, which is struggling under the weight of billions in debt and deficit, he said.

Mr Frydenberg denied the government had a communication problem, but added: "You have to take people with you.

"We have to emphasise this to the Australian people - we didn't create this mess," he told ABC radio.

"I'm very confident we've got the right policies to take Australia forward."