Macdonald in Obeid’s office ‘all the time’, ICAC told
Former NSW Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid has been forced to back down from his claim that disgraced former mining minister Ian Macdonald had never been in his parliamentary office after a trio of former colleagues gave evidence at a corruption inquiry, according to the Australian Financial Review.
NSW Labor MP Lynda Voltz and two former Labor MPs, Paul O’Grady and Ian West, appeared at the final day of public hearings in the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s lengthy investigation of former ALP figures on Monday.
They disputed Obeid’s claim Macdonald had never been in his office in “20 years of me being in politics”
“If this bloke said this, he’s got more front than [former Sydney department store] Mark Foys,” O’Grady said.
Mining’s responsibility of care
Mining can play a critical role in reducing global poverty now that half of the world’s mines are in developing countries, up from less than one-third in 2000, says Andrew Leigh, the parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, according to the Australian Financial Review.
But he told the Mining for Development conference in Sydney that to avoid the “resource curse”, developing countries needed to ensure transparent legislation, the auction of mining rights to the highest bidder and proper geological surveying.
BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie last week told investors he preferred investing in developed countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and Chile because risks in developing countries were on the rise.
Mining firms urged to dip into talent pool of women
The chief executives of Australia's mining, utility and construction companies are being urged to change workplace culture and fix structural problems to tap into the under-utilised talent pool of women in a bid to address the nation's skills shortage, improve productivity and drive the economy, according to The Australian.
Sex discrimination commissioner Elizabeth Broderick will make the call today when releasing a report and strategy paper to assist corporates in fixing the ingrained gender imbalance across the sectors and help overturn the stereotypes around the nature of “women's work”
