By political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Photo: Labor is holding back on whether it will oppose the debt tax on high-income earners. (AAP, file photo)
Related Story: Hockey tightens nation's belts in 'contribute and build' budget
The Abbott Government faces months of wrangling in the Senate over key budget measures to introduce a GP fee and increase taxes on fuel and high-income earners.
Labor, the Greens and Clive Palmer have warned they will block the measures - collectively worth $6.5 billion.
Treasurer Joe Hockey's first budget, handed down last night, will tighten the belts of most Australians, with tax hikes, tighter welfare rules, new GP fees, and cuts to health and education spending.
Mr Hockey has characterised it as a "contribute and build" budget designed to bring about deep changes - the "structural reform" he says the Coalition was elected to do.
And he has already foreshadowed more cuts to come, telling Parliament last night that "the budget we announce tonight is the first word and not the last word on budget repair".
The introduction of fees to see a doctor has been savaged by Labor, which says the Government is raising revenue at the expense of sick people.
From July 1 previously bulk-billed patients will have to pay a $7 fee to visit the GP, have an X-ray, scan or a blood test.
The "co-payment" will save the Government $3.4 billion over five years - money which will go towards setting up a new fund for medical research.
Labor's shadow treasurer Chris Bowen says the fund should not be created at the expense of the sick.
Video: Watch key television coverage of the Federal Budget
He says the fee will lead to worse health outcomes as people put off going to the doctor when they are ill.
"It is a trashing of the fundamental principles of Medicare... and we will oppose that all the way with all the energy we can muster," he told ABC's 7.30 program on Tuesday night.
"It's not a small co-payment when you are trying to make ends meet and you have to decide whether to take a small child to the doctor or pay your bills.
"Your health should not be determined by your wealth."
The Greens, who currently hold the balance of power in the Senate, have also criticised the plan, saying the Government is cutting $10 billion from health and hospital funding in the next four years but investing only $275 million into medical research.
"We love medical research and we want more of it - but this is a con," Greens leader Christine Milne said.
Mr Palmer, whose Palmer United Party (PUP) will hold key crossbench seats when the new Senate sits from July 1, is also critical of the GP fee.
"I'm worried personally about pensioners that earn $300 a week, that have to go to the hospital, see the doctor three or four times a week, that'll take 10 or 15 per cent of their income - I don't think that's fair," he told the ABC's PM program.
He says PUP will "consider" blocking the co-payment, and "also the debt tax".
Labor holds out on debt tax position
The budget has confirmed the debt tax will apply only to those in the top tax bracket with an annual income of over $180,000 and only for three years, boosting federal coffers by $3.1 billion.
On Monday, the Greens reaffirmed their opposition to the tax, calling instead for permanent structural changes to the tax system.
But Labor is holding back on whether it will oppose the debt tax on high-income earners.
The Opposition has previously criticised the tax hike as a broken promise, particularly when it was rumoured to apply to those earning $80,000 and above.
But Mr Bowen has left open the possibility Labor may wave the measure through the Senate.
Video: Opposition focuses on Medicare, pensions, and petrol in Budget 2014 (7.30)
"We were deeply concerned when it was going to affect incomes over $80,000," he said.
"We still think it's a bad idea, but we will be prioritising our response and we'll be making positions clear over a range of matters of course over the coming period."
Labor says it will fight plans to - from 2017 - link pension rises to inflation instead of the higher male weekly earnings.
It is also primed to vote against hikes to the fuel excise as "an unconscionable attack on people's cost of living and a fundamental and clear breach of an election commitment".
But Mr Bowen has not yet committed to Labor winding back any of the changes if it wins government.
"The next election is two years away in all likelihood we'll announce what we'll do about cost of living closer to the next election," he said.
"We can oppose those measures which we feel are fundamental breaches of faith with the Australian people - of which there's several.
"This is a deeply concerning budget, it's a budget of deceit, showing that this Government was elected on a web of deceit."
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