The Prime Minister is also preparing to take on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott over his bid to scrap her carbon compensation, with a breakdown of government figures suggesting 100,000 older Australians will pocket more than $500 a year.

But the Coalition plans to keep hitting back with case studies on the types of families who would be worse off under the plan, with Mr Abbott saying ''there should be no tax collection without an election''.

The government advertisements, which feature ordinary Australians saying why they back the carbon scheme, will take the total bill for the government to explain its climate change policy to more than $25 million.

Figures in the budget papers show the government has earmarked an extra $13.7 million for a ''public information'' campaign on the tax - set to fund a website and leaflets.

An opposing $10 million advertising blitz is also expected this week from the Australian Trade and Industry Alliance, backed by the coal industry and the Minerals Council. It is believed long-time Liberal Party pollster Mark Textor is the architect of the ads.

Mr Abbott derided the government's modelling and its compensation, saying a single-income family with a child starts to be worse off at below average weekly earnings.

''When governments start talking compensation, the people start thinking rip-off,'' he said.

Ms Gillard said Mr Abbott had ''a magic pudding that won't work and will smash the budget and smash into Australian taxpayers''.

As opinion polls put the government's standing at a record gap behind the opposition, Ms Gillard ventured to the heart of the nation's coal sector in the Latrobe Valley to front workers who fear the worst from her plan.

Hazelwood, targeted by green groups as the nation's dirtiest coal power station, produces 25 per cent of Victoria's electricity. It is regarded as the most likely coal station to be closed or converted to gas by either sides of politics.

In an event closed to the media, Ms Gillard met 120 workers at the Hazelwood power station. She took questions on her plan to shut down 2000 megawatts of energy from coal-fired power stations and replace it with cleaner energy generation.

''I've met with workers who were anxious, prepared to ask some very hard questions, prepared to have very direct exchange with me,'' she said.

Declaring she wanted to look them in the eye, she vowed: ''It's not my intention to leave this community or indeed any other community in the country in the lurch the way we saw them left in the lurch in the era of privatisation under the Victorian Liberal government.''

But Hazelwood worker Gary Sevenson said after the ''quite heated'' meeting: ''I don't think too many people were convinced by what she was trying to sell.

''She couldn't give us answers on job security or the impact it's going to have on the area. This place directly employs 800 people; indirectly you could quadruple that. There's so much uncertainty, I'm losing sleep just thinking about it. People just wanted some sort of inkling into the future, which she wasn't giving us. It's good that she came here but it's really just a token gesture, a baby-kissing exercise.''

Another Hazelwood worker, Ross Gore, said many people in the area felt that the decision to close the plant had already been made.

''If Hazelwood closes without proper compensation it will be a disaster.''

''There's $200 million of federal money for regional assistance but that's not a lot of money to go all the way round Australia, because there will be other industries and other areas affected,'' he said.

But Steve Dodd, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union organiser for the Gippsland region, said that while workers were apprehensive about the future they were also focusing on attracting new industries to the area.

''We spoke with Julia and we got a positive reaction and we will work with her to make sure there's no job losses in this region.''

''There's no doubt that power stations in this region are on their last legs, carbon tax or no carbon tax. Things move forward … We don't see the carbon tax as the death of the Latrobe Valley,'' Mr Dodd said.

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