Jacinta Nampijinpa Price says a federal Coalition government will target "waste" in the Indigenous affairs portfolio.

The shadow minister for government efficiency, as well Indigenous affairs, also told ABC Radio on Thursday morning that audits would be undertaken within all departments for cuts, but she wouldn't know the full figure until after the election.

The NT Senator said she would work with her colleagues in their portfolios if the Coalition win government to work out where there was "waste".

"We won't know until we're in government exactly what the lay of the land looks like," Senator Price said.

"They [the Government] didn't have to spend $450 million on a referendum that divided this country; …a billion dollars on a quantum computer by a US company [PsiQuantum], when our own chief scientists have said that that could have been delivered in the private sector here in Australia," she said.

Senator Price was given the portfolio of "government efficiency" in January, which has been touted as a solution to help crack down on "wasteful spending". Critics said the position mirrored the newly created position of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, under the Donald Trump presidency, and also noted another Liberal MP already held a similar portfolio.

The Coalition have been trying to push back on comparisons between Opposition leader Peter Dutton and Trump, which have been pushed by Labor and the Greens.

Earlier this week, plans to sack 41,000 public servants were put on hold by the opposition in a remarkable mid-campaign U-turn, with the Coalition instead pointing to a hiring freeze to reduce staff numbers.

Should the Coalition win on May 3, Senator Price pointed to a "reset," repeating calls for the need for an in-depth examination of the Department of Indigenous Affairs.

"I have committed to in my portfolio an audit of Indigenous expenditure," she said.

"The last time we had any figures delivered in the Indigenous expenditure report—using data from 2015 [and] 2016—and that was well over 30 billion in that spend.

"I need to understand what that figure is now…that's why we're going to hold an audit."

She argued it will "identify to us what the duplication looks like, what misuse looks like…we want to make sure that we're actually delivering effectively, particularly for our most marginalised".

All organisations that receive government funding are already subject to audits regularly.

When an inquiry into Native Title bodies was voted down by the government in September, after the Native Title Council said it would cause "further politicisation and division," Senator Price argued, "We know that these bodies are not functioning the way they could be, and the Albanese government is shutting down any attempt to get them back on course".

Whilst she has been criticised by some in the Indigenous space, Senator Price is widely admired by many conservative voters, with a Resolve Poll in December finding her to be the most likeable Coalition MP.

The Warlpiri/Celtic woman has been highly critical of the government's position on Closing the Gap and reiterated the need to change how the money was being directed.

"If you want to take Closing the Gap, for example, we can see that there's nothing. There is no progress in that particular area," Senator Price said.

"For me, it's about a reset across Indigenous Affairs when it comes to Closing the Gap."

She added: "If our starting point isn't in the right position, we know that the outcomes aren't going to be provided going forward. There's some fairly obvious stuff going on there, and some ideological sort of driven approaches toward a lot of these issues that need to be closely examined."