Barring any more glitches, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is virtually assured of sailing her proposed minerals resource rent tax though the Parliament's lower chamber this week, paving the way for a near-certain approval by the Senate early next year.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Gillard worked through series of negotiations with lawmakers belonging to the Australian Green Party and independent House mmbers to secure their support for the bill that reportedly cost some $300 million in concessions.

The separate deals, SMH said, will be spread out over the next five years and any resulting lost MRRT revenues, the prime minister assured, will be filled in by savings, the source of which is still undefined as of press time.

Spanning from the dying days of Kevin Rudd's rule as prime minister, the mining tax, then known as resources super profit tax, spelled disaster for Rudd's tenure but Gillard adroitly revived the plan by repackaging the whole program and in the process winning the support of giant mining firms such as BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata.

The three miners, political analysts said, were partly responsible for the changing of guard in Canberra that sidelined Rudd and catapulted Gillard to leadership, though the assertions have yet been followed up.

Brushing aside months of excruciating deals with cross-benchers and convincing medium and junior miners to support the proposed tax, Gillard had appeased independent MPs by agreeing with some of their demands, most prominent of which is Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie's overture of raising the tax threshold from the original $50 million to $75 million.

The agreement, SMH noted, is not all-embracing and Greens chief Bob Brown opposed the Wilkie concession that he argued would shave off considerable amounts from the MRRT revenues.

Assured that even with the numerous concessions, the MRRT is still bound to collect more than $11 billion over the next decade, prompting Brown to simply submit a note that ensures the mining tax must be revenue neutral on its implementation.

Overall, while the MRRT managed to keep its original form, Gillard had agreed to a number of concessions that at best provide a blanket of assurance for affected states to be protected, in terms of whatever initial disadvantages they would incur once the tax takes effect, the SMH said.

Part of the deal too is ensuring the welfare of communities' hosting the mining activities that will actually deliver the MRRT revenues and easing down corporate concerns that state authorities may, as stipulated in the proposed mining law, increase mining royalties based solely on their whims.

That issue has been patched by the promise of 'just compensation' from federal government funds.

On the question of the questionable environmental impacts of coal seam gas and coal mining activities, Gillard pledged some $150 million that will fund the creation of an independent body that will advise the government on their operation.

On top of that political safeguard, the prime minister vowed that stringent monitoring and scientific evaluation of all proposed coal seam gas and coal operations should ensure environmental soundness that benefits Australia, in the same manner that MRRT, Gillard said, will benefit the country.