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Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott is an unabashed fan of billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart and her achievements in business and contributions to philanthropic and community causes. Rinehart, says Scott, is “the driving force behind one of Australia’s largest and most successful private companies, which has created thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of value to the community”. He adds: “She is ambitious for Australia and our key export industries and is investing to make a difference. “Many people would not appreciate the extent and generosity of Gina’s philanthropic and community support, but it is substantial, and her support of many of our Olympic athletes is remarkable.”

Gina Rinehart has capped an extraordinary year of deal-making across the mining, energy, agribusiness and retail sectors by being named The Australian Financial Review Business Person of the Year at a ceremony in Sydney on Thursday evening. The annual AFR Business Person of the Year list recognises Australia’s top leaders, builders, pioneers and stirrers – and Mrs Rinehart could meet all four criteria. Her Hancock Prospecting empire, which is the biggest private company in the country by some margin, delivered another record year of shipments from its Roy Hill iron ore mine, with robust iron ore prices driving profits to more than $5 billion. The company has a staggering $38 billion in assets on its balance sheet, propelling Mrs Rinehart to the top of The Australian Financial Review’s Rich List for the fourth straight year.

Hancock Prospecting is celebrating tonight after Executive Chairman, Mrs Gina Rinehart AO, was named the Australian Financial Review’s Business Person of the Year at their event in Sydney. Under Mrs Rinehart’s leadership, Hancock Prospecting has been transformed from a company facing a parlous financial position in 1992, when she became Executive Chairman, to Australia’s most successful private company.

A nationwide overhaul of industrial relations laws has passed through the House of Representatives, angering farmers who had urged Federal Labor to take the “catastrophic” legislation back to the drawing board.

25 November 2023

As the minister overseeing the process, he has been unable to effect any real change in seven years, so there’s little confidence that change will happen quickly. According to the CCIWA, there are about $381 billion of investment projects in the pipeline that are yet to receive environmental approval that could create an estimated 106,000 jobs. Of those the CCIWA surveyed, 40 per cent were at risk of abandoning their project due to longer-than expected approval times. As outlined in the WA CCI’s Green Web report, businesses have described working with the State Environmental Protection Authority as “laborious and frustrating” with “ever-changing guidelines and shifting goal posts”. Currently, the normal expectation for a mine to come online is eight to 10 years, double traditional expectations of four to five years.