Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a breakthrough on the contentious mining tax at a media conference scheduled for 8.30am (AEST) today at Parliament House.
The government has given ground on significant aspects of the tax, including the headline 40 per cent taxation rate.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has said that even if mining companies had accepted a deal, the coalition still saw the impost as a "bad" tax that had shocked investors.
He predicted the government would announce a "very complicated solution".
"I suspect there will be unintended consequences again, related to this so-called solution, because the government just doesn't understand what it's doing," Mr Hockey told ABC Radio on Friday.
"It is a bunch of amateurs that are trying to run tax policy."
The coalition would rescind the tax in government, Mr Hockey said.
It would not base any election promises on forecast revenue from the tax.
"We are good to our word," he said.
"We will not base spending promises (on the revenue) because we will not support the tax."
