News

Article by Marc Ludlow, courtesy of the Australian Financial Review. Australia’s richest person, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, wants governments to cut taxes and red tape and to help farmers pay for net

Article by Charlie Peel courtesy of the Australian Business Review. Equipment improvements and innovative techniques have long been the focus for mining companies looking to gain an ­efficiency edge, but now they

Governments and wind farm developers could face stiff opposition from farmers amid growing concern that large-scale projects could change the landscape for the worse, former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles says. Mr Giles – now the chief executive of Gina Rinehart’s two key farming businesses, Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman and Co – told The Australian’s Bush Summit in Perth on Monday that the transition to net zero was being felt as a “blunt instrument” in regional Australia.

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has addressed The Australian Bush Summit in Perth, saying that most farmers are unable to afford net zero. “With the consequences, Aussies and the towns will see huge food price increases and fresh food shortages, this is the maths that has to be brought in too,” Ms Rinehart said. “There’s quite a bit of government tape that would make life better if removed.”

Reporting of key elements of Mrs Gina Rinehart AO addressing the 2023 Bush Summit.

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart and cricket legend Adam Gilchrist will headline the inaugural West Australian leg of the Bush Summit in Perth on Monday. Mrs Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, will deliver the keynote speech before she participates in a Q&A session with The Australian’s managing director, John Lehmann. Bush Summits are being held around Australia for the first time this year, and will bring together decision-makers and thought-leaders to discuss the biggest issues facing regional industries and communities. This year’s Perth event comes at a time when regional WA is in the national spotlight in a way rarely seen.

Economically we increasingly struggle, given government policies which are not conducive to attracting investment – investment necessary to keep us internationally competitive, and to maintain our living standards, and to help combat welfare dependency in rural and remote regions.
As I look across the vastness from our agricultural properties in the Kimberleys, I see the potential for the creation of jobs to give families and children a future in our north, jobs in industries that can help feed and clothe other Australians and our allies. What is required, though, are policies to help attract investment. It’s about letting people work, such as our patriotic veterans or senior Australians who are hampered by onerous red tape and only permitted to work several hours per week – if more, they face serious financial consequences. It’s about placing more defence facilities in our vulnerable north. Hopefully this Bush Summit can re-energise interest in our north, despite the obvious problem: 85 per cent of Australians, and 85 per cent of the voters, live in our cities.

News Corp’s Bush Summit presents a welcome and much-needed opportunity to bring about focus on all the good things, the challenges and the opportunities that encompass regional Australia. With my family’s pioneering and agricultural background in regional and remote Australia going back to the mid-1800s in the Pilbara and back even before that, and more recently in mining, I’ve had the opportunity to share a very special history and many experiences in the Australian outback. It’s time to call for better policies for those who work and live in our bush. No longer do we want pollies to visit and say they love and appreciate us, but then deliver legislation that promises more hardships for us.