Abbott tells world his woes Prime Minister Tony Abbott greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 in Brisbane. Photo: Kevin Lamarque Tony Abbott has used his opening comments to the world's top leaders gathered for the G20 in Brisbane to lament the "massively difficult" task of bringing in higher university costs and an up-front GP fee in Australia. In a surprisingly local opening to the world's premier international economic forum, Mr Abbott specifically raised the proposed GP co-payment and his university de-regulation plans - both of which are being blocked in the senate - complaining that politics always intervened because change meant some groups would inevitably be losers. The measures are currently stymied because they are viewed by the opposition and crossbenches in the senate as broken promises. Tony Abbott with United States' President Barack Obama. The Prime Minister invited the gathering which included Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Shinzo Abe, and Vladimir Putin - with whom he shared a tense handshake - to raise whatever topics they wished to air at the leaders-only retreat held in the former Queensland Legislative Council chamber, but offered this personal lesson first on the reform task. Now I have to say that this has proven massively difficult. Massively difficult," he said. Because it doesn't matter what spending program you look at, it doesn't matter how wasteful that spending program might appear, there are always some people in the community who vote, who love that program very much. Minister Tony Abbott with Indonesia's President Joko Widodo. So getting the Budget under control has proven extremely difficult. If I could speak candidly with you, what I have tried to do is not only get the Budget back under control but also try to bring about important economic reforms, important liberalisations at the same time. He went on to cite the two key reforms unveiled since the election as evidence. In most countries this is not unusual. In most countries, this is standard, that the doctor can charge a fee. But it is proving to be massively difficult to get this particular reform through the Parliament," he told the room. Mr Abbott's comments came amid a day of high formality, closed-door meetings and social chatter ranging from the genuinely warm - as with Mr Obama - to more strained, as with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr Abbott held bilateral discussions with Spain's President Mariano Rajoy, Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and another with the Saudi leadership He also met formally with Indonesian President Joko Widodo - with whom he had dined on Friday evening in a meeting characterised as an effort by the Australian prime minister to build a personal friendship. "It was just light talk," said Mr Joko. Indonesia's Cabinet secretary Andi Widjajanto said Mr Abbott was keen to discuss Mr Joko's remarkable rise from his humble childhood living in a riverside shack in Java to furniture entrepreneur and then Indonesia's top job. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten described the Prime Minister's opening remarks as "weird and graceless." He said the Prime Minister was out of step with the rest of the world. "He boasted of taking Australia backwards on climate change action, making it harder for Australians to go to university and pricing sick people out of getting the healthcare they need," he said.