Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten have clashed in parliament for the last time before the May budget.
There will now be a six-week break before parliament resumes.
While Treasurer Joe Hockey will be using that time to put the final touches to his second budget, the entrails of his first effort are still being dissected.
And Mr Shorten is warning voters the government's business advisers have been telling it to get the axe out, go harder and cut more.
Two members of the federal government's commission of audit have told the Coalition not to go soft on economic reform.
Commission chairman Tony Shepherd says the government has to be persistent on difficult savings in order to continue the work started in the audit report and its intergenerational report.
The government is being warned Australians are becoming dangerously complacent and there are fears of another Global Financial Crisis.
On the last sitting day, Opposition leader Bill Shorten says it's clear the government has no idea which direction to take.
"The chief economic officer of Australia is Joe Hockey. He doesn't have a plan for Australia. We know that he doesn't have a Budget plan, he doesn't have a clear view on what he wants to do with the GST. On the last day of Parliament before we rise and come back and deal with the Budget, the Abbott Government needs an economic plan and a vision for Australia. Less politics, more policy, Mr Abbott. That's what Australia wants."
Treasurer Joe Hockey says the budget will aim to build a stronger economy through a small business package, childcare reform and infrastructure investment.
He says all new spending will be offset by savings that he describes as "responsible and fair", and he has promised a surplus as soon as possible.
"And the Budget to be delivered in just under seven weeks' time will be responsible, it will be measured and it will be fair and it will focus on jobs, growth and opportunity. Because Australia's days, Australia's very best days, are ahead of us. But, as a nation, we need to control our destiny. And living within our means, making sure that our expenditure is sustainable, starting to pay down the burden of government debt, that gives us greater control of our destiny and in turn it gives every Australian greater control of their lives."
But the government heads into the long break with more than 28 billion dollars of last year's budget measures mired in the Senate.
These include the government's higher education reforms, changes to the aged pension, changes to the fuel excise and a raft of changes to welfare payments.
The impasse in the Senate means that Joe Hockey will be searching for savings in the budget.
And that's something Prime Minister Tony Abbott admits, but for which he won't accept responsibility.
He says having created the problem, the Labor Party is now sabotaging the solution.
"Well the forward projections will be based on the measures in this year's Budget. And obviously what will be doing as part of this year's Budget is dealing with measures that have been left over from last year's Budget. And what you will see in this year's Budget is a whole series of measures that are responsible, measured and fair and which continue the task of budget repair that this Government has had to undertake because of the debt and deficit disaster that we inherited from Labor."
Labor's Defence spokesman, Senator Stephen Conroy, says it's not surprising the government's having ongoing problems with it's budget bottom line.
He says it only has itself to blame.
"They thought they had the numbers on a whole range of bills. They have completely mishandled their relationship with the crossbenchers. They have managed to antagonise almost the entire crossbench, and that's a real achievement, with their conduct with their arrogance, with their unfair legislation. And then they turn around and cry foul. I mean nobody's going to vote to put $100,000 uni fees in place. No-one's going to cut the age pension."
The government will hand down the budget on May the 12th.
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