Federal opposition leader Peter Dutton dined with Indian billionaire Naveen Jindal just months before his main Australian operation, Wollongong Resources, sacked 200 Illawarra workers and closed down Russell Vale coal mine.
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Between November 1 to 4 last year, Mr Dutton travelled to New Delhi to take part in the India Australia Strategic Alliance summit.
On the agenda was dinner with Mr Jindal - the chairman of Wollongong Resources's parent company, Jindal Steel and Power - and a keynote address speech at a university set up by the coal baron.
While Jindal Steel and Power has worldwide operations led from its base in India, Wollongong Resources is the conglomerate's primary business interest in Australia.
The Mercury understands Mr Dutton and Mr Jindal spoke about a wide range of topics, however a spokesperson for Mr Dutton did not answer questions regarding whether these included Wollongong Resources.
"Companies should take care of their workers and always operate in accordance with the law," the spokesperson said.
"The biggest threat to miners and the resources sector is Chris Bowen and Labor's crazy energy policy which is killing jobs and making mining operations unviable."
However, documents obtained by the Mercury make clear it wasn't energy policy that would ultimate drive Jindal's decision to close Russell Vale mine and sack 200 workers, just three months after Mr Dutton's visit.
$1b in debt
Laden with eye-watering amounts of debt, the company's liabilities exceeded assets by over a billion dollars.
"A material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the Group's ability to continue as a going concern," the auditors of the company's financial statement notes.
Most of this debt was a result of loans made by Wollongong Resources' parent company, Jindal Steel and Power.
Jindal Steel and Power bought out Wollongong Resources in 2013, which was previously owned by another joint Indian-owned conglomerate, Gujarat NRE.
After the purchase, the mine was financed by equity and interest free loans from the Jindal Group, worth over $1 billion.
The financial reports note that a Jindal Group subsidiary had confirmed financial support for at least 12 months from the date of the report.
But after a series of safety incidents, and the NSW Resources Regulator stepping in because of the risk to the safety of miners, that support ran out in early February this year, with the managing director of Wollongong Resources announcing to company staff that the business's owner was closing the Russell Vale mine.
The Wongawilli mine had been in care and maintenance and was not operational.
The company you keep
But the timing of Mr Dutton's meeting with Mr Jindal, amid widely reported safety concerns at the Russell Vale mine, and longstanding financial troubles for the operator, has raised eyebrows in the Illawarra.
South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said the visit, at a time when Wollongong Resources was on the ropes financially and had serious safety concerns, was illustrative of the priorities of the opposition leader, who last year styled the Liberal Party as the "party of the working class", particularly those in the resources industries.
"He is spending his time, wining and dining in the company of Indian billionaire coal barons, whilst our region is going through such an uncertain future in terms of our resources sector," Mr Rorris said.
During the whirlwind visit, where Mr Dutton was accompanied by shadow multicultural affairs minister Jason Wood, Mr Dutton dined with Mr Jindal and gave a keynote address at a university Mr Jindal founded.
During the address, which was focused on Mr Dutton's hawkish foreign policy, Mr Dutton described Mr Jindal as a "world-renowned businessman, philanthropist and patriot".
In India, Mr Jindal is facing issues of his own, with Indian prosecutors charging him with criminal misconduct, conspiracy and cheating for allegedly paying bridges to government officials.
Mr Jindal has strenuously denied the changes.
The case has been subject to lengthy delays and challenges, but remains before the courts in India.
Mr Rorris said he was perplexed why Mr Dutton was spending time with Mr Jindal, instead of advocating for Illawarra workers.
"One would have thought he should be helping our region, creating jobs and getting on top of having affordable energy and electricity bills," he said.
After the decision of Wollongong Resources in February, 200 miners are out of work, with the option of either moving to mines elsewhere in Australia, or retraining to work in an adjacent industry.
"He tells the workers of Wollongong one thing, and then he goes and wines and dines with their billionaire boss in India at other times."
