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by Fleur Anderson

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has launched a Trump-like Twitter tirade in a response to a report the government will scrap concession cards and welfare payments in the May budget, saying it's "false" and he "outright" rejects it.

In a series of four tweets the prime minister slapped down the report in News Limited newspapers on Sunday which said the government was looking to scrap all welfare payments below $20.02 a fortnight, a change targeted at aged pensioners.

"I can assure all aged pensioners the measure reported will NOT be in the budget," Mr Turnbull tweeted.

In another tweet he said he had assured the author of the story this was the case, "but she insisted on writing the story".

He also attacked the opposition leader saying: "And sadly, I can assure you that you can always rely on Bill Shorten to lie".

Mr Turnbull insists his government's current plan for $4 billion welfare cuts will be enough to repair the federal finances, but faces a mammoth parliamentary fortnight convincing the Senate crossbench to support the plan before the May budget.

Over the weekend, the Senate crossbenchers received an avalanche of last-minute lobbying from business, community groups, unions, government ministers and Labor frontbenchers over the government's contentious Omnibus bill, containing an overhaul of the childcare sector which has been tied to the "zombie measures" of previous Budget including cuts to family and pensioner payments.

The government's chief negotiator Finance Minister Mathias Cormann will be able to better assess the government's chances of success on Monday when a cross-party committee of senators release its report into the bill, in which cuts to low-income families has been opposed by NXT senators and a two-week boost to taxpayer-funded parental leave has been opposed by One Nation senators. 

The Omnibus bill is expected to be introduced to the Senate on Wednesday and - in unfortunate timing for the Coalition - will come a day after the equally controversial $50 billion 10-year corporate tax plan also hits the Senate for consideration.

Achievable chunks

There are only two more parliamentary sitting weeks until the May 9 budget, and if the legislation does not pass by March 30 the government will consider the option of splitting the bills into achievable chunks - such as welfare cuts for pensioners who travel overseas and company tax cuts for small businesses only - or abandoning their plans altogether and starting anew in the 2017/2018.

It also has the option of copying the previous Labor government which - when its plan to means-test the private health insurance rebate stalled - continued to clock future savings in the budget papers until it was finally passed years later.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott warned on Friday that unless the Senate passed the Omnibus Bill and the full 10-year company tax cut plan, every Australian household would face an average $5000 in extra tax to pay off debt.

Horror budget

Mr Turnbull said on Friday the Omnibus bill - which reprises some of the most unpopular elements of the 2014 horror budget that sapped payments to families, the old, and young unemployed - would head off a budget disaster.

"It's certainly enough to bring us back into balance by 2020/21 and that's what the ratings agencies, that's what community expect us to do but we need to cooperation of the Senate to do so," Mr Turnbull said.

Labor shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen said the government was sending mixed messages about what Australians could expect in the 2017 budget.

"If Malcolm Turnbull is officially waving the white flag on achieving any new budget repair, then in the upcoming Budget he is either going to: commit to no new spending, rely purely on parameter variations for budget improvements, or is planning a raft of new taxes or charges," Mr Bowen said.

With AAP