About 64 per cent of 1,000 Australian businesses surveyed by the Pricewaterhouse Cooper's (PwC) Private Business Barometer worry about the direct hit their business will suffer from the carbon tax.

Among the surveyed firms, 42 per cent anticipate a hike in their costs such as transport, while 22 per cent fear an increase in the price of products and services.

The tax, to be collected beginning July 1 at an initial fixed price of $23 per tonne, will drive a lot of supply chain businesses offshore, PwC quoted the chief executive officer of an Australian machinery attachments enterprise.

Suzie Wright, CEO of Digga Australia, said the company prefers to use local suppliers, but may opt to source their materials from overseas because of the expected increase in transport, fuel and materials due to the carbon tax.

Besides their worry over the carbon tax, the PwC report released on Monday said other concerns of Aussie business are finding competent employees, low margins and cash flow problems.

However, despite these difficult conditions, most of the surveyed companies are still optimistic about their outlook based on their forecast of 14 per cent growth in sales and 18 per cent improvement in profit growth for the next 12 months.

PwC pointed out that some businesses are paralysed with fear of what the future holds, but despite the air of uncertainty that looms, many Aussie enterprises are also waiting for some changes to take place before it initiates action and miss opportunities that might be gone for dragging their feet.

In a bid to allay the fears of Australians over the impact of the carbon tax, the Gillard government started a media campaign through print, TV and radio ads over two years to explain the household compensation package under the carbon tax.

The new ads started to come out on Monday. The ads told Australians who belong to a certain income category that they should expect the first assistance payments in their bank accounts in the coming weeks.

The government has allocated $36 million for the ad campaign, which was criticised by some sectors. The amount is broken down into $14 million for the current financial year and $22 million for the next financial year.

The Opposition criticised the ad, but Treasurer Wayne Swan dismissed it as a laughable criticism.

"It is a dishonest campaign which fails to even mention the carbon tax.... The government was dishonest before the election with the promise there would be no carbon tax and not it is being dishonest again," Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt was quoted by The Australian.

"This information campaign is timed to line up with when payments are being made so that pensioners and families have this information.... It is part of the government's overall information package on the introduction of a price on carbon," explained Families Minister Jenny Macklin.

The avoidance of the word carbon in the new ads could be explained by a government market research which found that is a turn-off term for voters, The Age reported.

Despite the aversion of the government to the C word, Climate Institute Chief Executive John Connor said the Gillard government needs to make more efforts to explain the necessity of a carbon tax.

"We need to make it clear to people why we are doing this and the importance of reducing carbon and developing clean energy.... If anyone thinks that a defensive strategy from either party on this issue - saying, 'Trust me, I'll look after you with extra money' - is going to work, they're wrong," The Age quoted Mr Connor.

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