To brag about Australia as one of the paramount performing economies in the industrial world, Kevin Rudd has used Question Time; pointing to today's national accounts as proof, again the nation has avoided recession.

The Prime Minister says Australia's growth justifies Government spending to stimulate the economy.

He is also refusing to back down on the Government's plan to introduce a tax on super profits in the mining industry. But the mining industry is fighting back by appealing to the public and politicians alike.

In front of a meeting of the nation's mining leaders in Canberra, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott portrayed the tax as a grab for cash from an industry that already pays its fair share.

"As an Australian I have a stake in saving this industry. And that is what I will do as long as there is breath in my political body", Mr. Abbott said."This tax is a dagger aimed at [the public] and at our prosperity and it comes from the entirety of this Labor Government".

Industry speakers at the Canberra conference the main annual event of the Minerals Council of Australia, the country's peak mining lobby group, were united in criticism of the proposals.

Mark Cutifani, chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., said that Africa looked a more attractive location for future investment and that governments in Canada and Brazil were "rubbing their hands together" in anticipation of a flight of investment from Australia.