NATIONALS Senate leader Barnaby Joyce has launched a television ad campaign aimed at stopping Chinese Government owned resources company Chinalco increasing its stake in Rio Tinto.
Joyce says the campaign has been funded by a private citizen to muster support against the deal. He says the Rio stake is Australia’s sovereign asset, and this is the government of another country buying into our asset, buying into the nexus between the Australian people and the wealth that's created by our minerals.
The ad transcript is as follows: The Australian Government would never be allowed to buy a mine in China. So why would we allow the Chinese Government to buy and control a key strategic asset in our country? Stop the Rudd Labor Government from selling Australia.
Kerry O'brien accused Barnaby Joyce’s ad of being misleading, as it infers that the Rudd Government is likely to approve the deal.
Joyce responded by saying the fact that they haven’t ruled it out demonstrates that they are planning to allow the Chinalco deal to go ahead.
Kerry O'brien supported the Rudd Government by arguing that their hands are tied, they can't comment publicly on this until they have received recommendation from The Foreign Investment Review Board.
Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of the Coalition says there are a lot of issues there and we are carefully considering it and monitoring it and we'll be expressing our views on it in a considered way in due course.
Joyce says this has become a very important diplomatic issue and a critical political decision. He claims if you hand the ownership of that asset to another country's government, not another corporation then disputes that you have in the future on things such as transfer pricing, the operation of the mine, go beyond the realm of just a corporate dispute.
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