Germany’s Chancellor plans lithium deal with Serbia after Rio ruling
Olaf Scholz plans to visit Serbia this week to secure supplies of lithium that are critical for the nation’s energy transition and auto industry.
A tough-talking mining company CEO is warning that Australia suffers from “rich country’s disease” and is in danger of becoming a welfare state unless workers discover a “hunger for excellence.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Andrew Michelmore — the former head of Western Mining Corporation and now chief executive of Chinese government dominated MMG, based in Melbourne — said he lamented the immobility of the Australian workforce and the resulting skills shortage in remote areas such as Western Australia’s Pilbara.
“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.
Australia has long had a problem with a mining skills shortage, with MINING.com reporting in July on the trend, and moves by employment agencies to close the gap:
The current skill shortages are due to a persistent decline in the apprenticeship training rate and a sustained high level of output for most of the last decade across the industries that employ a high proportion of tradespeople, says Dr Phil Toner, senior researcher for the Australian Expert Group in Industry Studies. Dr Towner said the reduced training rate was caused by changes in the economy over the past two decades, including changes in demographics, school retention rates, privatisation and corporatisation of public utilities, and outsourcing. With state and federal funding, agencies like Employment Services Queensland are upskilling the unemployed to reverse this trend.
