Stop the budget blame game: businesses

Australia has a decade to sort out its federal budget problems or lifestyles will suffer.

That's the warning from the Business Council of Australia in its 2015/16 budget submission released on Tuesday.

It says the nation has a choice between taking early, gradual action now or doing nothing and facing blunt, costly spending cuts and tax increases down the track, "possibly in crisis".

The council's chief Jennifer Westacott says it's time the blame game was taken out of the budget debate.

Australia has a structural problem where spending is higher than taxes received now that revenues are returning to more normalised levels.

"This is the reality confronting any government of any political persuasion," Ms Westacott says.

She believes there is a 10-year window in which to slow the trajectory of major spending areas and improve program delivery and effectiveness so that slower spending growth can be maintained.

BCA'S FOUR URGENT PRIORITIES:

* Avoid new spending commitments that cannot be offset by savings

* Comprehensive reviews of healthcare and the aged pension/retirement income systems

* Redesign major areas of spending, particularly the welfare and payments system.

* Complete major initiatives in last budget, such as tertiary education reforms.

10-YEAR FISCAL PLAN:

* Preserve AAA credit rating to consolidate the government's financial credibility.

* Progressively return the budget to surplus for dealing with economic shocks and volatility.

* Ensure priority government services, such as health, are sustainable.

* Ensure investment in infrastructure like roads and jobs.