Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has accused the Gillard Government of attempting to silence a critical media simply because it could not handle harsh words that highlighted what he claimed as failed policies of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

In a speech on Monday at the Institute of Public Affairs held in Sydney, Mr Abbott warned that the present Labor government is mulling ways to police on journalistic practices and behaviours as embodied in the recommendations that were the results of the review panel headed by former federal court justice Ray Finkelstein.

If Ms Gillard would have his way, a new media super-body, functioning as a regulator, would be established supposedly to watch over Aussie journalists and ensure they observed code of ethics that conform with government's taste of what should be allowed and disallowed, Mr Abbott said.

Such acts, he told his audience, would be tantamount to the death of free speech, adding that he wondered why the 'intellectual left' were silent while such an alarming development was brewing in the midst.

"Any new watchdog could become a political correctness enforcement agency destined to suppress inconvenient truths and to hound from the media people," The Australian reported the Liberal leader as saying in cautioning the impending actions of a government desperate to fend off negative remarks.

A government that he would lead, Mr Abbott said, would work for a free media and unimpeded expression event to the point of becoming "rude, obnoxious and objectionable.

The Coalition government, he pledged, would foster free speech and part of that is to make sure that media firms would not be subjected to federal pressures in order to sway them within the lines approved by the authorities.

"It is not ... the role of government to manage the day-to-day practices of journalism, to dictate who can and who can't control Australian media outlets or to 'score' media coverage against unavoidably subjective standards of fairness," the Australian Associated Press quoted Mr Abbott as saying on Monday.

He characterised Treasurer Wayne Swan's frequent jabs on mining bosses like Andrew Forrest and Clive Palmer as Labor's way of demonising critics that were fiercely opposed to the minerals resource rent tax (MRRT), the best feature of which, according to Mr Abbot, is to scare away resource investments.

In line with his intent to provide bigger rooms for media personnel to perform their job, Mr Abbott shared that he plans to improve on the country's Racial Discrimination Act, which he believes will better function without the section 18C.

That particular provision prohibits observations that "offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate" race and ethnicity.

"A 'hurt feelings' test is impossible to comply with while maintaining the fearless pursuit of truth which should be the hallmark of a society such as ours," Mr Abbott explained.

He asserted too that such laws can be employed as excuse to prosecute on dissenters "using the megaphone of incumbency," instead of actually serving their purpose of protecting Australia's marginalised sectors like the Aborigines.

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