Hockey stands by budget measures trapped in the Senate

The Abbott government is standing by those measures from its last budget that remain stuck in the Senate, Treasurer Joe Hockey says.

But he has fallen short of saying whether the government would go to a double dissolution in pursuit of them.

"That's not for me to call, but it is clearly unacceptable to only have one side of politics offering a plan for Australia's future and the other side of politics just saying 'no' to everything," Mr Hockey said.

Mr Hockey said the government still wants the same amount of budget savings over the next few years as those held up in the Senate.

"The status quo is not an option," he said.

He said this May's budget is being put together when the economy is clearly not strong.

"Every dollar we spend needs to be a dollar that gets more bang in the economy," he said.

The government will soon announce a family package aimed at encouraging work participation and a small business package to drive jobs growth.

Mr Hockey said last week's intergenerational report identified small business as the key driver of jobs growth over the next 40 years.

There will be no income tax cuts until 2020/21 even though average earners will approach $80,000 per year over the next couple of years just through wage inflation - taking them into the second highest tax bracket.

Mr Hockey said he wants to reduce taxes but can't when the budget is still in significant structural deficit.

He said it depends on what can be achieved in negotiations about savings with Labor and the Greens in the Senate.

"We can't surf back to surplus on increasing taxes," he said.

He said the government will release its tax discussion paper in April.