Treasurer Scott Morrison insists the mid-year budget review is nothing more than an update even though it's likely to come with some tinkering to environment and welfare measures.
But whether than means disbanding the Green Army - one of Tony Abbott's signature climate policies - and saving $350 million is not yet certain.
Surrendering it would help pay for the $100 million in extra Landcare funding Mr Morrison promised the Greens in return for the minor party's support for the government's 15 per cent backpacker tax.
Then there's the $4.5 million-a-day the government says its clawing back in a crackdown on welfare recipients wrongly receiving benefits, announced by Human Services Minister Alan Tudge on Monday.
It comes as the treasurer is writing to one of the three big global rating agencies to update it on progress the government is making on budget repair.
Mr Morrison will tell Standard & Poor's - which has Australia's triple-A credit rating on a negative outlook - the government has managed in the past few months to guide about $21 billion of savings through parliament, around half the government's budget program.
S&P and other rating agencies have previously raised concerns about the make-up of the parliament and its ability to pass legislation to keep the budget on a path to balance in 2021.
Former federal Liberal leader John Hewson believes a rating downgrade is inevitable with a government that is just "muddling through" and a long way off delivering a surplus by the end of the decade.
Mr Morrison says he gets advice from many quarters, but it will be up to S&P what decisions it makes.
"What the government has to do, is to focus on what we can do is to get savings passed," the treasurer told 2GB radio on Monday.
Mr Morrison will hand down his mid-year review on December 19.
Wednesday's economic growth figures for the September quarter will assist Treasury in forming forecasts for the review, albeit data that is shaping up to be disappointing.
New economic numbers show company profits rose by a smaller-than-expected one per cent in the quarter, but were offset by a modest rise in business inventories.
It left economists still anticipating a quarter growth rate of around 0.2 per cent, dragging the annual rate down to 2.5 per cent from 3.3 per cent as of June.
A new report by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand urges the political debate to move on from the usual argy bargy over "debt and deficit" and take a long term view for repairing the nation's finances.
It believes governments should be required to forecast the implications of key policy decisions over 10 years rather than four and be monitored by an independent body such as the Parliamentary Budget Office.
It highlights tax cuts implemented during the temporary mining boom a decade ago and the stimulus measures passed at the onset of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis as examples of policies created with little regard as to their long-term fiscal impact.
