Another senator campaigns against Rio-Chinalco deal

CANBERRA: Independent Nick Xenophon has become the second Australian senator to start a national television campaign opposing Aluminum Corp of China's proposed US$19.5 billion (US$1 = RM3.53) investment in Rio Tinto Group.

Xenophon and Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce have featured in television advertisements urging Australia not to back the investment. The country's Foreign Investment Review Board is assessing the bid and will give advice by mid-June to Treasurer Wayne Swan, who will decide if it should be approved.

"This doesn't make sense," Xenophon said of the bid in the advertisement. "Let's not gamble with Australia's future."

Some 57 per cent of Australians polled in March said Chinese investment in mining companies should be resisted because the nation's interests would be "better served" by Australian ownership, according to Essential Research. That opposition has sparked a Senate inquiry.

A submission to the inquiry from Rio Tinto said the proposal was in Australia's national interest. Rio said concerns over sovereign wealth funds or state-owned entities was "overestimated".

Australia on April 23 conditionally approved China Minmetals Group's US$1.2 billion bid to buy most of Oz Minerals Ltd's mines. Swan in March approved a A$1.3 billion (A$1 = RM2.66) investment by Hunan Valin Iron & Steel Group in Fortescue Metals Group Ltd, with conditions to avoid conflicts of interest over prices, sales and marketing.

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