Joe Hockey has dismissed concerns some Nationals MPs may cross the floor of parliament to vote against the government's paid parental leave scheme.
The federal treasurer said all of his coalition colleagues campaigned at two elections to have the scheme.
He said the scheme was a particular "no brainer" for regional Australia.
"We want to take that pressure off the mums that have to contribute to the mortgage ... when the bills keep coming in," he told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday.
Legislation for the scheme is "not too far away" but it is undecided whether it will presented before the new Senate sits in July.
The scheme, which is due to start July 2015, is expected to meet stiff resistance from opposition parties in the Senate, as are a number of budget measures announced last month.
"If the Senate is simply saying `no' to everything we do, it becomes irrelevant," Mr Hockey said.
"It is simply a roadblock and we either have to smash through that roadblock or the Australian people get the chance to change a government."
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said that if Mr Hockey and Prime Minister Tony Abbott want a double dissolution election, they should "bring it on".
He said they would do better to re-evaluate their policies and why Australians and many people in the parliament have rejected them so comprehensively.
Mr Bowen told reporters in Perth that everyone was a critic of the government's scheme.
"What Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott need to work out is that everyone is a critic of the scheme except from them," he said.
"The Labor Party is a critic of the scheme. His own backbench are a critic of the scheme."
Share
