TONY Abbott has promised to spend a week every year in a remote indigenous community if he is elected prime minister.

The Opposition Leader, delivering his first major speech of the year at Canberra's National Press Club, also pledged that the first thing he would do if elected is prepare legislation to repeal the carbon tax.

Mr Abbott rejected notions the Liberal-National coalition had a hard heart, and said if he was elected into the top job he would spend a week each year in a remote indigenous community.

"Because if these places are good enough to live in they should be good enough for a prime minister and senior officials to stay in," he said this afternoon.

Mr Abbott said that the Gillard Government taxed and spent too much.

He said that the tax cuts associated with the Gillard Government's controversial carbon pricing scheme could still proceed -- but only if the federal government brought spending under control.

Mr Abbott also said a coalition government would press ahead with a National Disability Insurance Scheme -- which will cost billions of dollars a year -- but only once the federal budget was brought back to surplus.

And he pledged to introduce an expanded "fair dinkum" paid parental leave scheme.

Mr Abbott said finding savings to fund some of his pledges was "a big task", but that "we're up for it".

Savings could be found by abolishing, for instance, abolishing the carbon tax, the mining tax, the computers in schools program, and the set-top box program, Mr Abbott said.

The government had weakened Australia's economy and society, he said.



"It does not have to be this way. We could be so much better than this," he said.



"What Australia most needs now is a competent, trustworthy, adult government with achievable plans for a better economy and a stronger society.



"My vision for Australia is to restore hope, reward and opportunity by delivering lower taxes, better services, more opportunities for work and stronger borders."

- with AAP

Originally published as Abbott: We could be so much better