Treasurer defends ad campaign to defend mining tax A Rio Tinto iron ore mining operation in the Pilbara, Western Australia / File Source: The Australian Wayne Swan has hit back at claims the govt failed to consult the mining industry about its resource tax. FEDERAL Treasurer Wayne Swan has defended a plan to launch advertising campaign designed to counter the mining industry's ad blitz against the new 40 per cent super profits tax. The government is to rush out an advertising campaign to counter a mining industry blitz against the super profits tax - a move that require special permission under the government's rules. Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig can exempt a campaign from compliance with the government's guidelines on the basis of a national emergency, extreme urgency or other compelling reasons, The Australian reports. The move has been branded by Tony Abbott as an "outrageous rip-off" by a government "without any moral compass." But the Treasurer defended the proposed mining tax advertising campaign. The exemption from the government's advertising rules will enable the Treasurer to avoid the need to seek the approval of the Indendendent Communications Committee, which vets all government advertising. "There is a very strong need and clear desire in the community to know more about the changes to our tax system and it's important we fill that need," Mr Swan said. News of the government's advertising move sparked a furious reaction from the Opposition - but came as the Liberals launched their own election ad campaign, in which Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is described as "absurd," "crazy," "bananas" and "insane" "We have seen an absolutely outrageous example today of a government that is completely without any moral compass, without any real ethical dimension," Mr Abbott said. Mr Abbott said that before the 2007 election he had described government advertising as "a cancer on our democracy." Today we find out that the government has exempted itself even from its own elastic requirements to run an emergency advertising campaign on the mining tax. Now, the justification it's given for this campaign is that misinformation is affecting financial markets and yet just this morning the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have been denying that their great big new tax on mining has had any impact of financial markets. This is just an outrageous rip-off. Read more about the government's mining tax ad campaign at The Australian.