Independent senator Nick Xenophon says introducing news cuts if the budget stalemate continues would be a "counterproductive move" amid cross-bench negotiations.
Speaking on ABC Radio this morning, Mr Xenophon said he hoped the government's threat to increase taxes "was just a thought bubble."
"Slashing university research would be a very provocative and counterproductive move in the context of negotiations with the crossbench."
The comments came after Tony Abbott and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann both raised the spectre of higher taxes if savings such as the GP co-payment, welfare reform and university deregulation aren't passed by parliament.
Education Minister Christopher Pyne also refused to rule out cuts to university research funding if its plans to deregulate fees are rejected.
Parliament resumes on Tuesday after the winter break, with the coalition still struggling to sell its unpopular budget to the Senate.
Mr Xenophon said government discussions with the crossbench would continue, but added: "I can't imagine there'll be any significant breakthroughs in this coming week".
"I get the feeling that this coming week will be a bit like groundhog day," he told ABC Radio.
Family First senator Bob Day questioned the government's sales job, saying its tactics so far "left a little bit to be desired".
Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm believes the government is taking time to "learn how to negotiate", with few of their budget measures listed for debate in parliament.
"As a government overall they are still really not in the negotiating frame of mind ... so I think perhaps they're giving themselves time to do that," he told ABC radio.
Labor's finance spokesman Tony Burke seized on government warnings of higher taxes as proof of what they were planning in the future.
"Mathias Cormann has been their most disciplined performer and he wouldn't say this unless Tony Abbott seriously had plans to introduce a raft of new taxes," he told ABC Radio.
Mr Burke described the tax threat as "more about extortion than it is about governing".
"This bizarre game where they're saying if you don't vote for an unfair budget, we'll come up with something even more unfair," he said.
Treasurer Joe Hockey continues to defend the budget and the government's sales job, saying savings in health and welfare are "modest rather than draconian".
The government is "methodically" and "calmly" putting in place the budget, he wrote in The Australian Financial Review.
"The message is clear - we need to change the budget structure so we can still offer services well into the future without a significant debt interest bill falling onto every Australian," Mr Hockey said.
Share
