In an exclusive interview with Fairfax Media, Mr Morrison stepped back from the tough "lifters not leaners" rhetoric of the Coalition's 2014 budget, instead talking of the need to inspire young people and get them to "engage" with the workforce.

"That really is my pitch to the country," he said. "Australia is something that you get involved with."

Mr Morrison, who took on the massive social services portfolio in a move that surprised political insiders in December, has responsibility for developing the Coalition's "families package", a review of the welfare system and key budget measures that are stuck in the Senate - including a six-month wait before young unemployed people get the dole, an increase in the pension age and a decrease in pension indexation.

Mr Morrison said that his aim was to get young people into work, get mothers back to work after having children, and help older Australians to stay in work. If people had better ideas than were currently before the Senate, he said they should "bring it".

"I'm trying to solve the problem. I'm not wedded ideologically to any particular one of these measures," he said.

The former immigration minister is best known for his hard-line role in "stopping the boats", and has been touted as a potential replacement for Treasurer Joe Hockey and even Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

But despite his "tough guy" public image, several welfare and community groups have said Mr Morrison has been surprisingly easy to deal with. They have talked about his openness to new ideas and enthusiasm for the portfolio.

When it was noted that some groups had been anxious about meeting him, Mr Morrison laughed and exclaimed "no!"

"I have no doubt that there have been some who have been quite surprised," he said.

"If they had had a misconception previously, what I've always tried to do - in whatever role I've been in - is I'm there to try and fix a problem. That's what Tony, I think, sees my key role in the government as being."

With a portfolio that comprises about a third of the federal budget, Mr Morrison has swapped his role on the National Security Committee of cabinet for a spot on the government's Expenditure Review Committee, which will design the upcoming budget.

While he led the fight against Labor over asylum-seeker policy in opposition and government, he is calling for childcare to become a bipartisan issue similar to the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

"I have no need or interest or desire to take this policy area into a combative space," he said.

He also said that he preferred to talk of the upcoming families policy as a "stream" and not a "package" because it would involve more than one set of reforms over multiple years.

By the time the next election rolls around, Mr Morrison said he would like lower and middle income families "believing if they went back to work [after having a baby], then they wouldn't have to go back to work just to pay childcare".

The government is yet to release the Productivity Commission's final report into childcare, which it has had since October. Mr Morrison said he was now seeking "practical feedback" from the sector about how to implement ideas.

"I won't rush it for a political deadline," he said.