One thing totally hypocritcal about the statements from China is...

One thing totally hypocritcal about the statements from China is about BHP/RIO gaining some sort of extra bargaining power in iron ore.

First of all, if they do, whats wrong with that. The world is full of internationally sanctioned cartels.. like OPEC for example. Our consumer and competition laws are for protecting australian citizens from unfair competition, not chinese citizens.

China goes all out to defend its own citizens using unfair competition. Despite being in GATT for ages, it still has export controls on Met Coke, Tungsten and all sorts of stuff to artificially lower the price of those commodities to its own citizens and raise it for everyone else.

I recommend the Austalian government to:
1) Raise a new law, prohibiting foreign stakes backed by state owned treasuries beyond 5%. On the basis that the price paid for those stakes and the objectives of holding those stakes are likely to be beyond normal commercial objectives.

2) The government imposes an export tax on iron ore equal to the freight differential of iron ore from Brazil, until China removes the export controls on its commodities. Fair is Fair

3) Rather than having BHP and RIO navigate regulatory hurdles the government should be doing the opposite, and pass a law immediately forcing Rio and BHP to merge thus raising iron ore prices, and the govts tax take, and consequently reducing the average joes tax burden. this is not unusual, we have a single desk for wheat, and other agricultural products, just like NZ does for Dairy. Why not a single desk for Iron ore.

Advance Australia Fair !!