News

Rinehart in $16m boost to Flying Doctor

Health care for Australians living in rural and remote areas will be given a $16m lift thanks to donations to the Royal Flying Doctor from Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart. The Rinehart Medical Foundation and Hancock Prospecting will give major cash boosts to the Queensland, NSW and WA sectors of the 95-year-old organisation, which relies on donations to fund a third of the health care it provides. “The multimillion-dollar gift will help ensure that all Queenslanders – no matter where they live, work and play across the state – can feel safe in knowing that they are connected to the best medical care available.” The RFDS said that Mrs Rinehart’s family association with the organisation went back to the 1950s when her mother, Hope Hancock, used to host fundraisers at her home.

Read More

Royal Flying Doctor Service in $8M partnership with Rinehart Medical and Roy Hill

Iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart has donated $8 million to the Royal Flying Doctor Service to buy a state-of-the-art aircraft that will help save lives in the most isolated corners of the State. The Rinehart Medical Foundation and Roy Hill will contribute $4 million each to buy and fund an aeromedical fit-out of a PC12 NGX plane in what is one of the most significant donations to the RFDS. Last month, Ms Rinehart was crowned Western Australian on the Year not only for her contribution to WA’s mining and agricultural sectors but for her generosity to various medical and health organisations. RFDS Western Operations chief executive Judith Barker said the organisation had a $90 million program to replace 12 planes by 2030. Ms Barker said the RFDS had a long association with Ms Rinehart and her mother, Hope Hancock. “We’re really grateful for the support that we get from her, Roy Hill and the foundation who recognise that the RFDS is there to support them and their endeavours in rural or remote areas,” she said.

Read More

Rinehart, JBS eye off Britain

Heavy hitters in the Australian branded beef space are making themselves known in Britain only a month into the new free trade agreement and they are pushing welfare and environmental credentials as much as the high-quality eating experience. Mrs Rinehart and her chief executive Adam Giles were also reported to have spoken extensively about their “happy cattle are the best cattle” management philosophy, including the millions of dollars they have spent on shade to protect their animals from the harsh Australian heat.

Read More

FEARS GROW ON ACT RED TAPE

Roger Cook says West Australians “should not be scared” of new Aboriginal heritage laws — but warns anyone who blatantly flouts the new rules will incur hefty fines. As the updated Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act came into play on Saturday , the Premier played down concerns new regulations were creating confusion for industry, farmers and homeowners. “People should not be scared of any new laws,” Mr Cook said. “What they should do is equip themselves with the necessary information they need to make sure they can discharge their obligations under the Act.” He said the Government would adopt an “easy as we go” approach to new regulations .

Read More

The Australian Ag Podcast: Adam Giles on the outlook for Australian beef

Hancock Agriculture chief executive Adam Giles discusses free-trade agreements, animal welfare and what’s ahead for the S Kidman and Co brand, today on The Australian Ag Podcast. Mr Giles travelled to the UK and Europe last week as the first Australian beef was being served up to British consumers under the recently signed free-trade deal. He was accompanied by Hancock owner, billionaire businesswoman Gina Rinehart, and met with consumers, importers and distributors to trumpet the benefits of Aussie beef Hancock Agriculture operates one of Australia’s biggest beef cattle herds across more than 3.5 million hectares of NSW, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with the portfolio including the famed S Kidman and Co cattle stations.

Read More

Overregulation In Western Australia’s Agricultural Sector

Farmers in Western Australia are not immune to the economic challenges facing the nation today. These challenges include inflation, labour shortages, red tape, and low private investment. And these challenges are felt more acutely when industries are overregulated. Recent analysis by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has found that red tape is at a record high across the nation, and that state environmental red tape (or green tape) has grown at approximately six times the rate of growth of Western Australia’s agriculture sector since 2000.

Read More

WA Aboriginal heritage laws bamboozle business

The first major test for the Cook Government has not gone well, judging by the level of backlash over the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act from miners, farmers and Indigenous groups. The shambolic rollout was on full display this week, with the Government continuing to tweak the laws right up to the 11th hour amid growing pressure but opposing calls for a delay. Some of that tinkering — particularly the commitment for a “light touch” approach to enforcing the new rules for the next year, an implementation group and an “education first” approach — will allow companies to go about their business without the fear of a fine hanging over their head. The Government also agreed to a one-year reprieve for more rigorous requirements to Indigenous heritage surveys after hastily taking down guidelines following concerns from industry, as revealed by The West Australian. Why all this had to be done the week before the new system was due to be brought in defies logic.

Read More

BHP chief Mike Henry warns the Govt’s IR policy will make Australia less competitive

BHP boss Mike Henry has doubled down on criticism of the Federal Government’s crackdown on labour hire laws, arguing it is taking Australia in the “wrong direction” and will make the country less competitive. “An industrial relations system that delivers productivity, flexibility, and competitiveness to drive job creation and wage growth. Predictability and reduced risk. Under those conditions, the capital will flow,” Mr Henry told the World Mining Conference. “Worryingly, some policies are taking us in the wrong direction and are going to make Australia less competitive: this includes recent and proposed changes to industrial relations legislation, particularly the same job same pay legislation and multi-employer bargaining.”

Read More

One-year grace only after heritage uproar

In the ultimate sign of chaos over the implementation of new Aboriginal cultural heritage laws, backlash against updated survey requirements resulted in a one-year reprieve — largely benefiting miners — being hastily written into guidelines just days before they were released. The West Australian can reveal guidelines published last Tuesday — then yanked offline within hours — originally applied new, more rigorous requirements to any Indigenous heritage survey undertaken from July 1 of this year.

Read More

Australia Must Heed Gina Rinehart’s Timely Warnings

“Canberra Hill is not a wealth creator or nation builder, but a user and waster of taxpayer funds, an inefficient disperser of taxpayers’ funds, and its record shows a place which fails to understand economic realities,” she said. “This lack of economic realities has resulted in policies which restrict our pensioners, students and even veterans from working as much as they may choose, while there is a widespread worker shortage, a worker shortage crisis, affecting many businesses and supplies.” At a time of record revenue, thanks to mining, one would expect government services to be provided abundantly and efficiently. Unfortunately, the opposite is the case. Notwithstanding the money flowing into state government coffers, the standard of the provision of services, which is the key role of state governments, has never been so poor.

Read More
Back to top