Senator Cormann denies the urgency has gone out of the budget situation, saying it remains in the bad shape Labor left it in.
"We are facing a budget emergency as a country, we are facing a very challenging fiscal situation but the government is dealing with it ... through the normal processes of the parliament," he told Sky News on Saturday.
It comes after senior ministers appeared to have distanced themselves from the government's previous insistence the budget is in crisis, after Treasury figures earlier this week showed 99 per cent of the government's budget measures have been legislated for, including $25 billion in savings.
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Michelle Rowland questioned why, if there really was a budget emergency, the government had doubled the debt since coming to office.
"Why is it the case that they are intent on pursuing a rolled gold paid parental leave scheme which even their own side considers is unaffordable," she told Sky News.
The comments come as a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) report warns that government spending will balloon over the next decade, puting the nation's fiscal sustainability at risk.
According to the report, which based projections on measures outlined in the 2014-15 federal budget including the yet to be legislated GP co-payment, the Paid Parental Leave (PPL) and National Disability Insurance (NDIS) schemes will be the biggest drivers of spending growth over the next decade.
The PPL is estimated to cost $7 billion a year by 2024-2025 while NDIS spending is projected to reach $26 billion a year.
In comparison, the PBO estimates the Medicare $7 co-payment measure will reduce spending by $2.2 billion a year by 2024-2025.
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