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Senate inquiry slams tax

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PM visits WA as tax debate rages on

Labor is being whacked on two fronts over its mining tax as Prime Minister Julia Gillard campaigns in the West.

Small and mid-tier miners are using an advertising blitz to ramp up their opposition to the minerals resource rent tax while a Senate inquiry has recommended the proposed tax be scrapped.

The coalition-dominated inquiry made 11 recommendations in total, including that proceeds from the proposed tax not be included in budget estimates until legislation setting it up has been introduced to parliament or is imminent.

It also suggested that no tax should be imposed without Labor telling the public what its impacts will be on employment, investment, industry and the cost of living.

The committee called on the government to consult with small and medium-sized mining companies on the design of incentives to encourage investment in exploration.

Ms Gillard is attempting to switch the focus of her faltering election campaign onto the government's $43 billion national broadband network.

She warned Australian jobs would be lost if a coalition government kept its promise and dumped the high-speed fibre network.

“We will literally be exporting jobs to Korea, to Singapore, to places that do have this infrastructure,” Ms Gillard told ABC Radio.

Ms Gillard has defended the style of her campaigning from criticism it is too muted and overly stage-managed.

“I am passionate, desperate to see this country go forward," she said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott campaigned on one of the coalition's perceived strengths - seniors - in Adelaide on Friday.

The coalition plans to make 2012 the Year of Meals on Wheels because Mr Abbott thinks it's time a special group of Australian volunteers was "saluted".

But he warned the coalition's aged-care policy, to be announced in the next few days, would have its limits.

"I want to caution people against expecting enormous dollars," Mr Abbott told reporters in Adelaide.

He blamed the government's fiscal position for that, but it didn't stop him announcing a $314 million initiative for school students with disabilities.
AAP