Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan contended that his wife shares dealings should not be enmeshed on the heating debate about the impending super profits tax on the resource industry amidst allegations that Kim Swan divested mining stock shares as soon as her husband got hold of the Henry tax review.

The government said that involving the treasury minister's personal life on a federal issue is tantamount to clouding the core questions at hand, which is the oppositions' continued criticism of the proposed super tax as reports came out that opposition member Peter Dutton acquired shares on BHP Billiton amounting to $2000.

According to the government, the report effectively overshadowed opposition allegations that the new mining tax would deeply hurt the mining industry, as Mr Swan reiterated that the two issues do not intertwined, stressing that "it has nothing to do with my wife and the issue is entirely different if you have a good hard look at the facts but the two situations are not comparable."

He asserted that "Dutton bought that (BHP shares) when the coalition was out there saying this is going to destroy the industry but it wasn't going to destroy the industry and he went out and bought shares to back that judgement."

Mr Swan was the keynote speaker of the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry meet held in Perth Monday, where representatives of Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Fortescue Metals Group and other mining companies were gathered in unison criticism of the new mining tax.

The impending super tax will require the mining industry to set aside 40 percent of their profits for federal tax starting 2012, and has been vehemently opposed by giant resource companies, including BHP which has informed its shareholders that the company has proposed to the federal government that only new projects must be affected by the tax reform.

Fortescue has announced too that they will support BHP's overtures, with company executive Graeme Rowley revealing that chief executive Andrew Forrest is in total agreement with the proposal, stressing that they have studied the whole idea and "I've discussed with our CEO and he totally supports the idea of advising our shareholders of Fortescue's position in relation to the tax."