An online survey released Monday found that 46 per cent of Australians favor the government planned 30 per cent minerals resource rent tax (MRRT). The survey by Essential Research said 34 per cent are against the MRRT, reported the Herald Sun.

The growing support for the MRRT, which replaced the previous Rudd government's resources super profit tax (RSPT), is due to the belief by 62 per cent of respondents that mining companies are raking it in with resources that actually belong to the nation. By taxing its use of the country's mineral resources, all Australians would benefit from the firms' profit.

However, 36 per cent said the MRRT would be bad for business and would weaken the Australian economy, and 34 per cent linked the proposed tax measure which is slated for implementation on July 1, 2012 as proof of Labour's anti-business policies.

The Minerals Council of Australia insisted on Monday that it actually paid more than 40 percent RSPT contrary to the federal Treasury's claim that the industry paid on the average only 27 per cent RSPT. The council based its claim on a Deloitte collation of real world data.

The mining industry opposes the MRRT for being discriminatory. The industry is lobbying independent MP Andrew Wilkie to block the tax measure in Parliament.

To convince Mr Wilkie, the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC) and the Federal Member for O'Connor, Tony Crook, invited the MP to tour mining sites in Pilbara and Goldfields. Mr Wilkie toured mine sites in Newman on Monday and will visit Kalgoorlie on Tuesday.

"What we are trying to do is educate as many of those that are involved in political circles that we can as to what the implications of the tax really mean on the ground for the companies," AMEC Chief Executive Officer Simon Bennison told ABC News.

"We're just hoping he has a far better understanding of how this tax discriminates against a lot of our members that are in the junior to mid-tier producing sector and that is the main purpose of this to educate him and get him a better appreciation of what this all means," Mr Bennison added.