State of budget 'cataclysmic': Abbott

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Labor has left the budget in a cataclysmic mess which will require firm action to fix.

Mr Abbott told the final meeting of the coalition party room before the May 13 budget that all MPs needed to remind voters over the six-week parliamentary break of the size of the fiscal challenge.

Delivering the five largest budget deficits in history and announcing but not funding many programs had left the books in an "absolutely cataclysmic mess", he said.

The government would deal with the problem "firmly but effectively", keeping all of its election commitments.

Mr Abbott said the government could not fix the Australian economy without fixing the budget.

The prime minister faced questions from Liberal MPs concerned about talks with Japan over a free trade agreement.

They expressed concerns the government would drop a push for increased market access for beef and dairy producers in a bid to get a deal signed by the end of 2014.

One MP said the trade deal to be signed with South Korea had too many exclusions in it.