Do you think Australia will allow this mining company to import hordes of Chinese laborers at sub-minimum wages?
Australia’s Richest Woman Seeks Chinese Mine Partners
By Andrew Hobbs, Jason Scott and Stephen Engle
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Australia’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart, has a team in China seeking partners to finance her second iron ore project and a coal mine, betting the Asian nation will turn around the economy.
“I have confidence that China will get it right and it will be booming again soon,” Rinehart, 54, told Bloomberg Television in an interview at the Perth head office of closely held Hancock Prospecting Pty, partner in the Hope Downs project with Rio Tinto Group. “This dip that we are seeing right now is a great time to focus our thoughts on how we should be doing things better.”
Rinehart, daughter of the man who discovered the mines that made Australia the world’s biggest iron ore exporter, expects to sign partners for both projects this year. She also wants labor laws changed to allow hiring of lower-cost overseas workers to help develop projects to increase the nation’s mineral exports.
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Developing that kind of infrastructure would be easier in Australia if the government relaxed regulations that bar companies from employing overseas workers at less than Australian minimum wages, Rinehart said.
“It won’t matter so much to Australians what the guest laborers get if they’re employed at worldwide conditions,” Rinehart said. She has written twice to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, leading the campaign that also has support of companies including Woodside Petroleum Ltd., the nation’s second-biggest oil producer.
See: bloomberg.com |
