Tinkler steps aside, says he will appeal bankruptcy ruling
Former rich lister Nathan Tinkler has stood down from the board of his sharemarket-listed coal company after the Federal Court declared him bankrupt, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Tinkler said late on Tuesday he would appeal Justice Jacqueline Gleeson's judgment, which stems from a dispute over money owed from the sale of a luxury jet.
Trading in shares of Australian Pacific Coal, the corporate entity Tinkler is using for his return to the coal industry, were suspended on Tuesday following the bankruptcy judgment.
Calls for Stuart Robert resignation
Labor Leader Bill Shorten has called for Human Resources Minister Stuart Robert to resign over revelations he was at a meeting with a senior Chinese minister and representatives from a Liberal Party donor's company on a “private” trip to China to oversee a mining deal, according to the Australian Financial Review.
Shorten said it was “time for Malcolm Turnbull to show the leadership he promised and sack Stuart Robert,” accusing Turnbull of “outsourcing his responsibilities” to the public service by waiting for the findings of Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Martin Parkinson's probe into the matter.
Government ministers declined to strongly defend Robert on Tuesday, simply saying he had their support and they were waiting for the findings of the investigation that Turnbull commissioned on Monday.
Mining services' life support running out
The Australian Financial Review reports that much of Australia's mining services sector and other businesses that rode the resources boom might be getting by on “life support”, but this year is shaping as a tipping point that will see company collapses increase, insolvency and industry experts say.
The mass corporate failures in the sector that were predicted as early as 2012 have not manifested and only 3% of total insolvencies in financial 2014-15 related to mining, McGrathNicol transactions partner Anne-Maree Keane said. She was surprised so few formal insolvencies had materialised.
