Rio’s Chinalco Accord Should Be Blocked, Australian Greens Say

By Rebecca Keenan

March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Rio Tinto Group’s proposed $19.5 billion investment agreement with Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, should be rejected by the Australian government, said the Australian Greens political party.

“It is hazardous for the Treasurer (Wayne Swan) to entertain the proposed deal between Rio Tinto and Chinalco when the Communist dictatorship will be pulling the strings behind the scenes,” Greens’s leader Senator Bob Brown said today in an e- mailed statement. He said he will move a motion in the Senate tomorrow calling for Swan to reject the proposed deal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at rkeenan5@bloomberg.net