Keep promise of ore inquiry: Xenophon

Independent senator Nick Xenophon remains hopeful the Abbott government will fulfil its promise of a parliamentary inquiry into the iron ore industry.

But if it heeds what he describes as the "hysterical" response from mining bosses he will not only seek a Senate inquiry in June but bring forward his own legislation to change competition rules in the mining sector.

"When you consider the fall in the iron ore price has punched an $18 billion hole in our deficit, I would have thought it's in the national interest to look at these issues carefully and methodically," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.