Treasurer Joe Hockey says Labor should prove its bipartisanship on the deployment of troops to Iraq by passing the government's budget measures.
But Prime Minister Tony Abbott isn't backing his treasurer's position, distancing himself from the comments while thanking Labor for its support on national security.
Speaking about the impact of the Iraq deployment on the budget, Mr Hockey said the government would "spend what we need to spend to defend our nation".
But he said the added expense was "another good reason" for Labor to back the government's controversial budget measures.
"Everything comes at a cost and if Bill Shorten truly is honest about his commitment to deliver bipartisan support in relation to our defence efforts in the Middle East, he'll provide bipartisan support to pay for it," Mr Hockey told reporters in Washington.
When questioned over the treasurer's statement, Mr Abbott was quick to thank Mr Shorten for his "very constructive engagement" with the government on national security.
"What is important is that the opposition continues to support our mission in Iraq and the Middle East," he told reporters in Sydney.
"Obviously there's a lot of things that the government and the opposition disagree (about) but when it comes to national security it's good that we stand shoulder to shoulder together."
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said it was "in poor taste" for the treasurer to be using the deployment to make domestic political points.
"We've sought to be very bipartisan, to take a principled position on our decision ... responding to the request of the Iraqi government to help fight off Islamic State," she said.
The deployment of about 600 troops to Iraq is expected to cost about $500 million a year and comes on top of an additional $630 million boost for domestic national security.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said he was extremely disappointed that Mr Hockey chose to make the Iraq intervention a source of political point-scoring with his "dreadful statement".
"Joe Hockey probably thought he was being clever, creating this political issue. Well it's not," Mr Shorten told reporters in Melbourne.
"Every time Joe Hockey opens his mouth now he says something silly."
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