Newly-minted federal Treasurer Scott Morrison has flagged income tax cuts and a housing affordability package as some of his initial priorities.

Morrison said the Turnbull government would have a different focus, on kick-starting the economy rather than simply “stopping” things like the carbon and mining taxes.

He said he wanted to return to the Howard/Costello era of personal and family income tax cuts.

“As a principle of people keeping more of their own money … yes I believe you can,” he told News Corp on Wednesday.

Peter Hendy, who was promoted to the new position of Assistant Minister for Productivity in the government’s new-look ministry, said getting income taxes down had been a view held by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the past decade.

“There’s issues and challenges across the economy so tax reform is important,” he said.

Another ministerial debutant, Assistant Innovation Minister Wyatt Roy, said it was important Australia was a low-taxing economy to lure entrepreneurs from all over the world.

“We are not going to have the jobs we need if we tax ourselves out of prosperity,” he told the Nine Network.

Morrison said he would drive a housing affordability package in partnership with the states that would release more land for home construction.

He said he was also committed to ending the high income earner deficit repair levy by 2017 as planned by his predecessor Joe Hockey.

But he had all but ruled out raising the Medicare levy, as suggested by Labor states as a solution to future health funding.

Labor frontbencher Richard Marles said the new PM and treasurer were part of the cabinet that approved two “absolutely disastrous budgets”.

“No puff piece in the Telegraph is going to re-ignite the Australian economy,” he told Sky News.

– AAP