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Australian officials yet to visit detained Rio 'spy'

Posted July 9, 2009 09:06:00
Updated July 9, 2009 11:09:00

The Government is urging China to allow Australian officials to see Mr Hu

Stephen Smith is urging China to allow Australian officials to see Mr Hu (AAP: Alan Porritt)

The Federal Government says it cannot be certain that an Australian Rio Tinto employee being detained by Chinese officials has been treated appropriately.

Rio Tinto's iron ore operations chief Stern Hu was detained on Sunday on suspicion of espionage and stealing state secrets.

The Chinese Government has not yet allowed Australian consular officials to meet Mr Hu, who has been living in Shanghai for the last 10 years with his wife.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith says the Government is urging China to allow Australian officials to see Mr Hu as soon as possible.

"That's one of the reasons why we want access to him, is to satisfy ourselves as to his welfare, to satisfy ourselves as to his well-being and to get some indication from him as to how we can be of assistance," he said.

Both the Federal Government and Rio Tinto say the accusations come as a complete surprise.

Mr Smith says the Government is doing what it can to try to get access to Mr Hu.

"I'm satisfied, very satisfied, that our response to date has been a sensible and proportionate response," he said.

"We will continue to make all the points we've been making privately and now publicly to Chinese officials."

Tags: business-economics-and-finance, industry, mining, government-and-politics, federal-government, foreign-affairs, australia, wa, perth-6000, china

Australia Votes 2010

76 needed to form government

Mining Tax

Mining

  • Tax renamed the Minerals Resources Rent Tax
  • Will only apply to iron ore and coal
  • Iron ore and coal will now be subject to a new tax at a rate of 30pc instead of the original 40pc
  • Tax will kick in at the government bond rate plus 7 per cent, which would be around 12 per cent
  • Oil and coal seam gas to be rolled into the existing Petroleum Resources Rent Tax and taxed at 40pc
  • Changes mean the Government loses $1.5 billion of expected revenue

The Negotiations

State of the Parties

76 seats required for victory

90.2% counted.
Updated Fri Sep 3 03:06AM
Party % Vote Swing Won Predict
Labor 38.1 -5.3 72
Coalition 43.7 +1.6 73
Greens 11.6 +3.8 1
Others 6.6 -0.1 4

Changing Seats

90.2% counted.
Last updated Fri Sep 3 03:06AM
Time Count % Electorate Held By Margin 2PP % Swing Predict
14:37 93.5 La Trobe L/NP 0.5 50.9 1.4% to ALP ALP GAIN
10:06 86.5 McEwen L/NP 0.0 55.4 5.4% to ALP ALP GAIN
16:37 88.5 Solomon ALP 0.2 51.9 2.0% to CLP CLP GAIN
14:37 81.2 Melbourne ALP 4.7 55.6 10.3% to GRN GRN GAIN
16:38 93.8 Denison ALP 15.3 51.2 16.5% from ALP IND GAIN
17:07 90.3 Bennelong ALP 1.4 53.6 5.0% to LIB LIB GAIN
19:08 91.5 Gilmore * ALP 0.4 55.2 5.6% to LIB LIB WIN
11:23 92.7 Hasluck ALP 0.8 50.6 1.4% to LIB LIB GAIN
16:37 92.0 Macarthur * ALP 0.5 53.0 3.5% to LIB LIB WIN
11:23 92.5 Macquarie ALP 0.3 51.2 1.5% to LIB LIB GAIN
18:54 90.3 Swan * ALP 0.3 52.6 2.8% to LIB LIB WIN
16:53 91.5 Bonner ALP 4.5 52.6 7.1% to LNP LNP GAIN
19:24 88.4 Brisbane ALP 4.6 51.1 5.7% to LNP LNP GAIN
16:52 92.1 Dawson ALP 2.6 52.4 5.0% to LNP LNP GAIN
12:51 93.7 Dickson * ALP 0.8 55.2 5.9% to LNP LNP WIN
15:37 89.6 Flynn ALP 2.2 53.2 5.4% to LNP LNP GAIN
11:21 90.6 Forde ALP 3.4 51.6 4.9% to LNP LNP GAIN
15:22 92.2 Herbert * ALP 0.0 52.1 2.1% to LNP LNP WIN
17:23 90.2 Leichhardt ALP 4.1 54.5 8.6% to LNP LNP GAIN
16:37 92.0 Longman ALP 1.9 51.9 3.8% to LNP LNP GAIN

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Election Live

76 needed to form government

90.2% counted.
Updated Fri Sep 3 03:06AM
Party % Vote Swing Won Predict
Labor 38.1 -5.3 72
Coalition 43.7 +1.6 73
Greens 11.6 +3.8 1
Others 6.6 -0.1 4

More results

Changing Seats
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Latest Seat Results
State of the Parties
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