Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) Chairman Jan du Plessis complained at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce business lunch in Sydney on Friday of the fast rise of cost of doing business in Australia.

"The competitive position in Australia is now what it once was. Seven years ago, Australia was one of the cheapest places in the world to operate; today it is just about one of the most expensive," The Australian quoted Mr du Plessis.

He said Australia needs to shake off its bad and lazy habits that prevent it from being a more productive nation, pushing for a rebuilding of its competitiveness and productivity, which has been supported by a recent study.

YouTube/NewsOnABC

At the same time, Mr du Plessis used the occasion to defend Rio's focus on iron ore and it is content with the company's present portfolio wherein iron ore makes up 80 per cent of Rio's earnings. He said the miner would not do other things or buy companies just to have a more diversified source of income.

"We invest appropriately in the iron ore business and we have got a whole portfolio of other businesses that in their own way are good businesses and at the right time they will come through and they will shine," he added.

He chided Australian government and business for taking prosperity, generated by the mining industry, for granted, leading to the development of bad and lazy habits. Mr du Plessis pushed for more cooperation and collaboration of business and government at industry, company, federal and state levels to have effective reform in Australia.

He pointed out that structural problems remain in Europe, although global growth is hinged on Asia, specifically China's performance. With a 7.8 per cent gross domestic product growth forQ3 2013, he said the Chinese economy remains positive for the long terms and this would translate into continued, strong growth for commodities.

Such a development would augur well for the mining industry and Australia, the Rio chairman said.

RELATED STORIES