And Mr Shorten says money had been allocated in the budget for a bigger rise than the 1.5 per cent that has been offered to Defence personnel, brushing aside concerns about a federal deficit of more than $40 billion.

On Friday, Treasurer Joe Hockey conceded he would like to pay soldiers more but argued "the money is not in the budget … if you want to pay people more, you've got to have more income".

The independent Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal last week approved the below-inflation 1.5 per cent pay offer to the 57,000 serving soldiers, sailors and air force personnel.

On Sunday, Mr Shorten told the ABC's Insiders program the government "can't lay straight in bed on Defence Force pay. They have been shameful on this".

"The government loves to put the flag around themselves," he said. "This government are flag patriots. They love to be photographed with people in uniform yet they have put up a pay offer to the independent tribunal which means that effectively every soldier, sailor, and airman in Australia is going to take a real pay cut because of this government.

"And what makes this government particularly shameful on Defence Force pay is because they're going to say this, because we're giving our uniform people 1.5 per cent, they're using them to justify no pay rises for the rest of the public service."

"They are using the military to force through a right-wing wages policy. It is not keeping up with inflation."

Last week, Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie, a military veteran, called on veterans to hijack Tuesday's Remembrance Day memorial services in protest at the government's lower than inflation pay rise for the military, while also threatening to vote against all government legislation in the Senate.