TERRY MCCRANN

claiming by building its islands.

Then throw in the little matter of radioactivity – low level as it might be to everyone except the people who are currently getting stuck with it: the Malaysians.

And a certain PM who has been “recalcitrant” about Australia and Australians for over 30 years – and is still around after his remarkable comeback, unlike the seven Australians PMs who are not, and are soon to be joined in the dustbin of history by an eighth.

Yet Scott and his teams of assorted – are any of them, Scott aside, even over 30 years old? – thought they could waltz in, be “clever”, and as a consequence present Lynas with a “Godfather-style” offer.

WHAT Wesfarmers should have done, the only thing it should have done, is include Lynas in any planned talks with Malaysia and made it crystal clear they were Lynas’s talks and it – Wesfarmers – was just a supportive, if potentially involved, spectator.

In terms of dealing specifically with Mahathir, might I recommend Scott have a chat with former PM Paul Keating; and even more usefully with someone who can tell him about Mahathir’s deputy, Anwar Ibrahim.

For more generic guidance to (West?) Australian innocents abroad, might I suggest that Scott also inform himself of the saga of Rio Tinto’s fabulous Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in another Asian country whose name also begins with the letter M – Mongolia.

That’s as in: while it might be fabulous as a resource, it’s not quite so fabulous in terms of profits to the guys, the shareholders of Rio Tinto, spending the money to develop it.