Social Services Minister Christian Porter has lamented Australia's clumsy tax and transfer system but did not commit to any specific changes to deal with the problem.
Mr Porter told Sky News on Sunday that the system had "deep structural inefficiencies" stemming from ad hoc evolution and technological constraints.
"Allowing people to keep more of their own money, rather than taking money off them, washing it through government with all of the expense and administrative burden that that takes and then giving it back to them, the first situation of letting them keep more of their own money is far preferable," he said.
"You can imagine that that is an extremely inefficient and costly system to, in effect, draw money from one group through tax to give it straight back to them, with all of the administrative costs and loss that occurs in moving that money through government back to the pockets of the people from whom you took it in the first place."
At the National Press Club last week Mr Porter outlined a plan to use big data to get more people off social security.
The government is adopting what it calls an "investment" approach, which means people at risk of becoming welfare dependent will be targeted earlier in their lives, with support education and training, for example.
Mr Porter took aim at family tax benefits and the illogical process of collecting tax only to redistribute it through the welfare system. He said that tax credits were envisaged when former prime minister John Howard designed the system, but that had not occurred for a variety of reasons.
Federal Parliament does not sit again until early October. Labor will reveal officially whether or not it has decided to support a plebiscite on same-sex marriage after a caucus meeting to be held on October 11. But The Australian Financial Review has reported the decision will be 'no'.
In the meantime, Labor's Mark Dreyfus will meet with Attorney-General George Brandis in Brisbane on Monday. Mr Dreyfus said he had been invited to the meeting to talk about the plebiscite but would not take a list of demands or conditions.
"It's a matter for Mr Turnbull and Senator Brandis to explain what it is that the right wing of the Liberal Party is prepared to compromise on and, at the moment, it does not appear to me that the right wing of the Liberal Party is prepared to compromise on anything," he said last Friday.
The plebiscite would cost $160 million to stage plus another $15 million divided equally between the 'yes' and 'no' campaigns.
