Key reports due before budget: Hockey

The federal government will release its intergenerational report and tax white paper before the May budget.

The intergenerational report is a five-yearly review by Treasury which looks at the impact of demographic change on economic growth, the financial implications of policies and trends over the next four decades.

Treasurer Joe Hockey said the report, which he described as "an exciting document", would be released on March 5.

This would be followed by "extensive consultation" with the public and a discussion paper on tax reform, before the release of the May budget and a white paper on reform of the federation.

"These are big structural changes but it is important we take the community with us," Mr Hockey told Sky News on Thursday.

The treasurer was upbeat about the government's success in reforming the economy, despite not being able to get some of last year's budget measures through the Senate.

He rejected suggestions the government was timid about reform.

"We are not there yet but we are on the right trajectory," he said.

"We have been able to turn around a lot of the problems we were left with."