michelmore laments "soft" workers

Well done Andrew you certainly led from the front in 2008 you muppet! Actually I read in the comments at the end of the article you are just a sock puppet for your Chinese overlords, very apt description!

A lot of OZL shareholders won't forget what you and Owen did to the company. OH takes the cake though, in actual fact he did just before the company went down the tubes!

I think the class action settles soon.



http://www.theage.com.au/business/mining-boss-soft-workforce-taking-nation-backwards-20110808-1ij6b.html?comments=74#comments

A WORKFORCE dominated by soft, satisfied idealists is ''pissing away'' Australia's position of economic strength and taking the nation backwards, according to the boss of a Chinese-controlled mining company with multiple projects in Australia.

Former Western Mining Corporation boss Andrew Michelmore - now chief executive of Chinese government-dominated, Melbourne-based miner MMG - warned Australia was suffering from ''rich country's disease'' and would devolve into a welfare state unless workers rediscovered a hunger for excellence.

Addressing the Australian-British Chamber of Commerce, Mr Michelmore lamented the immobility of the Australian workforce and the resulting skills shortage in remote areas such as Western Australia's Pilbara.
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''People can't be bothered moving 25 kilometres to get a job because they will live off social welfare instead, and it's a real worry for me watching Australia have a luxurious time at the benefit of our relationship with China,'' he said.

Mr Michelmore said more seniors and women should be returned to a workforce that was dominated by people with ''airy fairy'', ''idealistic'' and ''altruistic'' attitudes.

''We need to get the grey hairs back into industry and working, we need to get more women involved in work,'' he said.

''We need to get some hunger and drive back into this country, we are becoming soft.''

The comments come barely a fortnight after business leaders, including Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford attacked unions and the Labor Party for taking industrial relations reform too far since Labor won the 2007 election.

A lack of workers has long frustrated Australia's resource sector, as it tries to develop billions of dollars worth of projects over the next decade. The skills shortage in the mining states has persisted despite an economic slowdown in the more populous south-eastern states.

MMG's corporate headquarters and three of the company's four mines are in Australia, but the company is listed in Hong Kong and is majority owned by the Chinese state-owned company China Minmetals.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union national president Tony Maher rejected Mr Michelmore's comments, saying they were ''a Trojan horse for a Chinese labour debate''.

''Chinese companies want to use Chinese labour, that is the real problem here,'' he said.

''The truth is Australians are on the move for work. Other industries outside mining are complaining about the drain on labour. They can't both be right.''

National Seniors Australia spokesman Michael O'Neill applauded Mr Michelmore's comments, saying he would welcome the opportunity for older Australians to ''return or remain in the workforce longer if the circumstances were right''.

Mr O'Neill said the mining industry and other employers needed to create work opportunities that were sensitive to the needs of seniors.

''A degree of flexibility is what they are looking for in the workforce, they've got other commitments at that time in their life,'' he said.

Mr Michelmore added that Australia needed to be putting its money into infrastructure projects, and warned that China would ''look elsewhere'' for investments if Australia's regulatory environment became too complex.

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