The Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy says a new Commonwealth migration program will help ease a labour shortage that is holding the industry back.

The company which operated Australia's last riverboat postman north of Sydney has been all but wound up, after the business went into liquidation earlier this year.
The iconic Hawkesbury River ferry service at Brooklyn provided a postal and general delivery service to residents along the banks of the river.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has promised to put Australian jobs first despite Friday's decision to bring in more than 1,700 foreigners to work on mining magnate Gina Rinehart's $9 billion project in Western Australia.

It was revealed earlier that Ms Gillard was not informed of the decision until she returned to Australia from the United States on Wednesday.

But at a press conference this afternoon, Ms Gillard refused to be drawn on the issue of "internal government processes" and instead moved to assure Australians that Labor will put local jobs first.

The Government is facing an angry backlash from unions and within its own ranks over its decision to allow billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart to import more than 1,700 foreign workers to a mining project in Western Australia.

Worries over Europe's debt problems curbed early gains for Australian stocks as the local market closed in negative territory.

Staff at James Nash House have placed the facility into lockdown because of concerns about their safety.

The depth of organised crime on Australia's waterfront should come as no surprise, according to the global anti-corruption watchdog.

The union movement has accused the Federal Government of caving in to billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart over an agreement to allow more than 1,700 foreign workers into Western Australia for a mining project.

The agreement, the first of its kind, will allow Ms Rinehart's $9.5 billion Roy Hill project in the Pilbara to sponsor overseas workers on 457 visas.

But it has drawn an angry response from union leaders, who have accused the Government of "sheer lunacy".