Australian new PM urges quick solution to mining tax

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard attend the Labor Party conference at Darling Harbour in Sydney in thisJuly 30, 2009. Gillard became Australia's first female prime minister on June 24, 2010 after Rudd stepped down before a leadership ballot.(Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
Negotiations on Australian federal government's planned resources super profits tax (RSPT) need to be resolved as "quickly as possible", new Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Friday.

She said the government needed to "harness the goodwill" that has been generated by the mining industry and "build on it."

"I indicated it strongly yesterday, I'm indicating it strongly today," Gillard told reporters.

As one of her first acts as prime minister, Gillard has scrapped a 38 million dollars (33.26 million U.S. dollars) advertising campaign, which is designed promote the tax as a sign of good faith.

Both the government and the mining industry have said they will stop their opposing advertising on the RSPT issue.


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