Qld: Mining magnate got special treatment: Oppn

AAP General News (Australia)
08-21-2009
Qld: Mining magnate got special treatment: Oppn

BRISBANE, Aug 21 AAP - A mining magnate received special treatment for a proposed phosphate
mine after making a donation to a Queensland Labor MP, the state opposition says.

The Courier-Mail newspaper reports Joseph Gutnick donated $12,000 to the election campaign
of Mount Isa Labor MP Betty Kiernan, and months later his proposed phosphate mine was
included in an expedited mining projects process.

Deputy Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said it was another example of a lack
of ethics in the Labor Party, which has been enduring similar allegations for weeks.

Mr Springborg told reporters Mr Gutnick was getting special treatment, with a truncated
environmental assessment compared to what other developers would face.

"There are much smaller environmental hurdles for this person to jump than other people
who would normally be establishing a mine or ... some other environmentally damaging project,"

he told reporters in Brisbane.

Mr Springborg repeated calls for a royal commission into possible corruption in Queensland.

"It's about time that the stench of corruption surrounding this government is put to
the full scrutiny of a royal commission," he said.

"The CMC does not have the capacity to look at the moral, the ethical questions, the
cultural issues that surround the operation of government and administration in Queensland.

"They are constrained and contained in what they can investigate."

The newspaper report also claimed Mr Gutnick hired Premier Anna Bligh's former senior
adviser as a lobbyist after the election and met with Ms Bligh last month.

Treasurer Andrew Fraser said he wasn't aware of the environmental process the proposed
mine was subject to, but believed it was still in its early stages.

Mr Fraser said it was the job of the government to meet with business on projects that
could benefit the state.

"I've sat in a room with many other business people who have propositions for Queensland
and that's because of those propositions, and for no other reason whatsoever," he told
reporters in Brisbane.

"I think if there's a suggestion that there is anything else more to this than what
occurs in government every day - meeting business about propositions - then someone should
provide some evidence for that."

Mr Fraser said Mr Gutnick's mine would go through "the normal legislative process".

AAP gd/pjo/ash/apm

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