Opposition leader Tony Abbott reiterated his commitment to economic reforms as he clarified that such measures must be based on more affordable tax and would generate more jobs and provide the government with more cash to fund disability payments.

Mr Abbott also stressed that the Coalition's economic reform agenda still run in counter with major reform components advocated by Prime Minister Julia Gillard though he assured that the welfare reforms pledged by the Liberals during election time would be honoured in time.

Speaking for a lecture session in Melbourne, the opposition leader said on Friday that the Coalition regards welfare reform as a priority task of the Commonwealth and any promises made by his party would be a realisation in due time.

The Liberals have proposed reform measures that surpassed the benefits offered by the Labor Party which include paid parental leave program, subsidies for long-term unemployment among young Australians and incentives for companies willing to hire unemployed senior citizens.

Mr Abbott argued that the Coalition's economic reform plans put more emphasis on social services and lower taxes and deliberately veered away from the Gillard government's propensity to impose new taxes and spend huge amount of taxpayers' money.

He expressed confidence the reform agenda being espoused by the Coalition would win the support of most MPs in the parliament as he downplayed suggestions made by Ms Gillard that the opposition was pushing for 'economic Hansonism'.

On the contrary, Mr Abbott said that his reform programs were meant to create job opportunities for people on welfare as he stressed that empowering the less fortunate Australians would lead to a stronger economy and more savings for the government so it could re-allocate services expenditures to more pressing concerns.

Mr Abbot said that prudent reforms on the country's disability support system must be considered in order to increase Australia's participation rate as he explained that most disability cases could be rehabilitated and enable most on welfare support to to re-join the workforce.

While he admitted that welfare reform may prove to be a bitter pill to swallow at the start, he asserted that "it's worth the effort because it should help more people to be their best selves."

Also, Mr Abbott discounted the possibility that the government-sponsored tax summit next year would yield any positive developments for the country, firmly believing that the best that could come out from such efforts was tax shifts instead of tax cuts, simply because the federal government is more likely to implement tax hikes whenever its replaces controversial tax measures.