Katy Gallagher said it was foreseeable that talks about more significant tax reforms were being held at a time of rising government debt.
"It's a discussion that's under way ... it's unsurprising that there (are) those conversations," she told ABC Radio on Monday
Ahead of the budget being handed down next week, she said discussions were needed on how to fund critical services properly amid budget deficits.
"We're having a look at the books the first opportunity we've had and we are being upfront that there are these structural pressures," she told ABC Radio on Monday.
"We have to have this honest conversation about the budget ... these deficits are substantial, the debt burden is substantial and the demand for services are also there, rightly, from Australian people expecting things to be funded properly."
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mark Butler will announce a boost for regional and rural mental health support in the budget.
The $47.7 million announcement would restore funding for bulk-billed video telehealth psychiatric consultations, reversing previous cuts.
The scheme will support more than 500,000 consultations across five years, addressing high mental health hospitalisation and suicide rates in the regions.
Mr Butler labelled the former government's cuts "unconscionable".
"Our rural and regional communities have endured drought, bushfires, floods and the impacts of COVID-19 in recent years - a perfect storm of factors that have taken a significant toll on people's mental health," he said.
"The Albanese government is restoring these vital mental health services, making them affordable and accessible to people wherever they live."
However, opposition infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie said regions were missing out on vital funding for infrastructure projects.
She said the upcoming budget was a politicisation of funding in the area.
"There's huge concerns that this government has a vendetta against the regions and is using any excuse they can to rip regional funding out of the budget," she told ABC Radio on Monday.
"We've got to make sure that the programs and projects that we put in place ... out in the regions are funded.
"We want to see a sustainable, prosperous and safer regional Australia."
Senator Gallagher hit back at claims regional areas were being forgotten.
"We have looked at every department and every line in this first wave of the audit so I do not accept the line that's been run by the Nationals that this is somehow targeting them," she said.
"You'll see a huge spend in the regions, quite rightly and quite appropriately."
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