Anthony Albanese sparks outrage over Rio Tinto hi-vis outfit: Prime Minister grilled for wearing shirt of mining giant at Karratha

Anthony Albanese has been criticized by the Greens and environmentalists after the Prime Minister wore a Rio Tinto signal shirt.

Mr Albanese wore the shirt in the Western Australian mining town of Karratha as he spoke about the crash of US military aircraft in the Northern Territory on Sunday.

Three Marines were killed and five remained hospitalized in serious condition after the Boeing MV-22B Osprey crashed on Melville Island in the Tiwi Islands.

It appears Mr Albanese’s outfit has diverted attention from the seriousness of the press conference, with critics questioning the mining tycoon’s history.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge was one of the most vociferous people to voice a blistering takedown on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.

“It takes a conscious effort to put on a shirt for a good cause,” Mr Shoebridge wrote of the yellow top that featured Anthony on one side and Rio Tinto on the other.

“You figure out which one, take off your old one, and pull it over your head with purpose. This guy chose the Rio Tinto shirt.

“The company that blew up a 46,000-year-old sacred rock shelter for profit.”

In May 2020, the mining giant blew up two shelters showing human habitation going back 46,000 years to access higher quality iron ore in the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region.

Mr Shoebridge was joined in his sentencing by former Greens senator Christine Milne.

“Looks like Rio Tinto caught more flies with honey,” she tweeted.

Law firm Marque Lawyers tweeted the same photo of Mr Albanese next to one of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison wearing a very similar shirt with Scott on one side and Fortescue on the other.

Mr. Morrison was in that photo next to Fortescue owner Andrew Forrest, with the law practice, whose motto is ‘Law, done differently’, making a tongue-in-cheek remark.

“It’s just a color that looks good on everyone,” the firm wrote.

Mr Albanese wore the shirt as he toured Rio Tinto’s iron ore operations with Resources Minister Madeleine King.

Mr. Albanese praised Rio Tinto’s iron ore business and its contribution to the economy.

“As I stood there in the cabin today watching the iron ore go into the hull of that ship, I also saw funding for schools, funding for hospitals, funding to run our national economy coming from this industry and coming from of the hard work done by the people here in the Pilbara is so important,” he said.

“I think in the eastern states they often take this work for granted, as well as economic activity and income for granted. I’m here to say we shouldn’t.’

Social media users quickly joined the uproar against Mr Albanese, saying he made the wrong choice of clothing.

“You’re right, I wanted to slack him a bit because he was ill advised, but no, he consciously knew what he was doing,” one wrote.

“Albanians are just awful, the worst prime minister Australia has ever had,” said another.

That tweeter added that “the mining industry pays no taxes at all, and what’s more, we subsidize them with our tax money” – but that’s not true.

Rio Tinto paid $12.3 billion in taxes and royalties in Australia in 2022.

Some commenters took a humorous look at Mr Albanese’s photo, with one saying they ‘love the red lettering on his shirt’ and another comparing the striking look to Minions, the yellow characters featured in the popular film ‘ Despicable Me’. ‘.

But the snide comments dominated, with one saying, “At least he wears his sponsor’s logo on his shirt so we know who pays the bills.”

Another expressed surprise at the shirt.

‘It’s so weird. I didn’t think Rio had such power, especially after the indigenous caves fiasco,” they wrote.

“Left-wing workers out of touch with ordinary Australians,” they wrote, misspelling Labour.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Prime Minister’s office for comment.

It is not the first time Mr Albanese has attracted attention with his choice of clothing after sparking outrage for wearing a Midnight Oil T-shirt with the words ‘Voice, Truth, Treaty’.

Mr Albanese had previously stressed that the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament was ‘not about a treaty’.