Xenophon tips better Senate negotiations

A key crossbench senator believes negotiations with the federal government in the wake of this year's budget can't be any worse than last year's.

Key Senate crossbencher Nick Xenophon expects negotiations with the government over its second budget will go better than the first.

Some controversial measures from the 2014 budget are still stalled in the Senate, where the government lacks the numbers to pass legislation on its own.

Senator Xenophon, who believes this time around things will be better despite coming of a low bar, told reporters in Canberra on Thursday: "In fact it's a bar that's already near the ground, so I don't think it can go any worse."