Mr Andrews, who was a senior minister under the Howard government, has also committed to standing at the 2016 election and made a pitch to keep his portfolio in a second term.

This comes after speculation from within the Liberal Party that Mr Andrews may retire at the next federal election to make way for a new generation of Coalition frontbenchers. But in an interview with Fairfax Media on Monday, Mr Andrews said he will "definitely" stand at the next federal election, due at this stage around 2016.

"I will stand again. And if the Prime Minister is willing, I'd be delighted to stay in this portfolio," he said. "I see [welfare reform] as a longer-term thing," he explained, noting that it took "at least two terms" to push through welfare reforms under the Howard government.

Mr Andrews was due to receive the final report of the McClure welfare review in October, but is now not expecting it until November.  "They're still finishing it," he said, adding that he did not want the team, headed up by Patrick McClure, rushing to an "artificial deadline".

While Mr Andrews would not be drawn on any specific recommendations in the final report, he suggested it would stay within the "broad framework" of the interim report, handed down in June.

This report suggested that the welfare system be cut from about 75 payments, supplements and allowances to just four main payments categories: a child payment, disability pension, age pension and tiered working-age payment. It also suggested that only people with a permanent disability receive the disability support pension.

Mr Andrews has long been a supporter of streamlining welfare payments and supplements, but on Monday hinted that four main categories may not be enough. While noting that the government did not have a fixed number about payments, supplements and allowances as yet, he said it would "desirable" to get down to 25 or 30.

"The advantage of more payments is you can be more precise in how you target them," he said. "But the more payments, then the more complex the system is to navigate."

The final McClure report will then be considered with Andrew Forrest's review of indigenous employment and welfare, that was handed down in July. Mr Andrews said the two will eventually be considered in a submission to cabinet.

He said the "complex" nature of the welfare reforms was complicated by the fact that the IT system in the Department of Human Services,  which runs Centrelink,  needed to be replaced.

"There are things we can't do until we get a new IT system," he said, noting that some welfare reforms may not be possible until 2017 or 2018,  well after the next federal election, which is also likely to see a different Senate makeup.

This comes as several of the government's key social services budget measures, including the six-month wait for the dole for the under 30s, changes to the rate of pension indexation and changes to the pension age, remain blocked in the Parliament. Earlier this month, Mr Andrews split the contentious budget bills to try and get them through the Senate.

He had put "material" to the crossbench and "they're away thinking about it at the present time". He  had told the crossbench that the government would "ideally" like to achieve the six-month wait, but was open to a "counterproposition".

He strongly hinted that the government would be open to accepting a one-month wait instead.

"I can't say [what the government's final position would be] but one month would be better than what we've got now."