Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says he's not sure the federal government's plan to tighten the parliamentary entitlements system will work.
"The jury's out for me on this and indeed for Labor," Mr Shorten said on Sunday.
"We don't know if these new minimalist changes that the government has made will in fact work."
Federal politicians who lodge ineligible expense claims will have to pay a 25 per cent penalty and will be named and shamed in parliament under new guidelines announced by the government on Saturday.
Parliamentarians and their representatives will be provided with training on the new guidelines which tighten entitlements for MPs, senators, their staff and families.
There will also be mandatory training for parliamentarians who lodge more than one incorrect claim within a financial year.
Mr Shorten said the government had been dragged "kicking and screaming" to this point.
And he said Labor would take a deeper look at the proposals and seek to work constructively with the government.
"We're up for sensible changes," he told ABC television.
"(But) are these changes merely designed to placate community outrage or are they genuine long-term changes which will be in the best interests of building confidence?"
Greens leader Christine Milne said that while the federal government's plan was a step in the right direction, it didn't go far enough.
There was a need for both a national integrity commissioner and a national independent commission against corruption, she said.
"People are still going to make their own judgments on what they think is appropriate. You need to have somebody who is overseeing the system, beyond self-reporting," Senator Milne told Network Ten.
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