Senate inquiry into audit to hold hearing

A Senate committee examining the Abbott government's commission of audit may hold its first public hearing in Canberra as early as next week.

The commission is due to deliver an interim report before the end of January.

That report and another due in March may not be made public until the May budget.

The Labor-Greens dominated upper house committee is in discussion with commission members about their appearance before a hearing at Parliament House, possibly next Wednesday.

So far only one organisation, the Grattan Institute, has made a written submission to the inquiry.

It says tough budget choices cannot be put off indefinitely, predicting a decade of deficits - some as high as $60 billion.

"Government budgets cannot simply grow out of trouble, and the next decade may well be economically more difficult than the last," the independent think tank said.

It proposes a package that could add $37 billion a year to the budget: broadening the GST to include fresh food and private spending on health and education; raising the access age to superannuation and the age pension; removing the exemption for owner-occupied housing from the assets test for the age pension; and limiting tax concessions on superannuation contributions.

It also suggests "plausible" spending cuts including to transport infrastructure, industry support, school class sizes, higher education subsidies, pharmaceuticals, health services and defence.

Collectively they would improve the budget by $23 billion a year.

The institute concedes that the execution risks are high.

"There would be unacceptable economic and social effects unless the cuts were executed unusually well," it says.

By contrast, the oft-cited cuts to the public service and middle-class welfare could do relatively little to improve budget balances.