Rio Tinto chief says Australia will slide into mediocrity without labour reform

Rio Tinto’s new Australian boss says the nation has reached a crossroads and will slide into obscurity unless serious structural reforms are made, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Speaking in Canberra yesterday, Phil Edmands said the much-discussed need to improve productivity in Australia would not be achieved without reform of workplace laws.

“There is no way to achieve increased productivity without changes that affect the way we employ and deploy labour. Avoiding these changes is a fool's paradise,” he said.

“Without them ultimately we will not preserve jobs, we will lose them, because we will not grow the economic pie, we will shrink it.”

Similar concerns with the Fair Work Act, which was created by the Labor government in 2009, have been expressed publicly by other mining companies, including BHP Billiton.

AMP fund dumps fossil fuel investments

Another big investor has decided to reduce its exposure to fossil fuels, with AMP Capital announcing that its “responsible” funds would have limited scope to invest in certain mining and energy companies, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The changes will see 56 companies ruled out of bounds for the funds, and see the affected industries grouped with pornographers, weapons manufacturers, gaming companies, uranium miners, and producers of alcohol and tobacco.

In a move that follows bans by several church funds and banks in northern Europe, AMP said the changes were in response to “growing interest and concern” about climate change from investors.

Funds operated by AMP for “Responsible Investment Leaders” will no longer invest in companies that derive more than 20% of their earnings from thermal coal, coal-fired power generation, oil sands and the conversion of coal to liquid fuels.

Rio slashes jobs in bid to tame Mongolia costs

Rio Tinto is slashing about 300 jobs at its Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine in Mongolia to cut costs in a move that is unlikely to make negotiations with the government over a mine expansion any easier, according to The Australian.

In a letter to staff, Oyu Tolgoi boss Craig Kinnell said costs needed to be cut and an unspecified number of jobs would go.