Independent senator Mr Nick Xenophon is outraged that BlueScope Steel is shedding 1000 jobs while the company's senior executives are paying themselves AUD 3 million in bonuses. The steelmaker announced the job cuts as part of a group restructuring after it reported a full year loss of more than AUD 1 billion.

Mr Xenophon, brandishing a blown up chart of BlueScope's remuneration report, singled out executive director Mr Paul O'Malley who pocketed a AUD 721,000 bonus on top of his salary of nearly AUD 2 million, and total executive bonuses of AUD 3.05 million.

He said that "There is something particularly obscene about BlueScope doing that when they have just laid off 1000 of their workers. This really is a dark day for corporate governance in Australia."

The senator will be raising the matter with the federal government as it prepares to make available AUD 100 million immediately from its carbon tax compensation package for steel makers. He said that the compensation should be reduced by the AUD 3 million.

Mr Xenophon said that "That compensation level should be tied to their corporate behavior. This corporate behavior is pretty bad."

He will ask BlueScope to justify the outrageous bonuses.

Mr Xenophon said that he was concerned about reports that big Australian resources companies were doing deals with China for cheap supplies and cutting out Australian manufacturers. He added that "If they are cutting out Australian suppliers, if they are cutting out Australian industry, then that is unambiguously bad for Australian jobs. I think BHP Billiton, with its many billions of dollars in profits, needs to be upfront about its conduct and about the impact that it has here on Australian jobs."

(Sourced from AAP)