Tony Abbott, Wayne Swan clash over carbon tax

Mr Swan on Friday named Sydney's The Daily Telegraph as one newspaper that constantly opposed a carbon price.

"It doesn't care how it does it," he said of the News Limited publication.

Referring to the phone hacking scandal embroiling media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News International organisation in the United Kingdom, Mr Swan told reporters in Perth that such practises were "absolutely unacceptable".

But he said he welcomed and accepted statements made on Thursday by News Limited's chief executive officer in Australia, John Hartigan, that the company was not engaged in those sorts of practises here.

But the treasurer said some media outlets in Australia did have a political agenda.

Mr Swan said: "This is just a despicable act and a new low from Mr Abbott."

"Mr Abbott could not even mention in his budget reply speech the floods in Queensland and their impact on Queenslanders in our economy," he told reporters in Cairns.

"Now he is somehow seeking to link for political purposes our plans to reduce carbon pollution with the floods in Queensland."

Meanwhile, Ms Gillard said she understood the residents of Victoria's Latrobe Valley were anxious about the impact of the carbon tax package but believed the region had a strong future.

Ms Gillard has met workers from the Hazelwood Power Station, which is likely to close under the federal government's carbon tax plan.

She said the workers asked some hard questions as she explained the package.

"There's a lot of anxiety there and that's why I'm here to talk issues through with people, to be there directly available to have a conversation," she told reporters.

She said the government would be working alongside communities through the process.

"I am very confident that the Latrobe Valley has a bright future," she said.

But Ms Gillard was unable to say if any Latrobe Valley power station would definitely close, saying it had to go through a tender process and any closure would take a number of years.

The federal government's carbon tax plan states that 2000 megawatts of the nation's dirtiest power generators would close by 2020.