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.
The historic Fossil Downs station near Fitzroy Crossing, owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture, recently welcomed the first calves of what it hopes will be a new crossbreed of cattle it has dubbed the Kimberley Composite. The cattle are a combination of four different breeds. Station manager Rick Ford hopes the Kimberley Composite will tolerate the region’s tropical climate, will have a slick coat that is resistant to pests, have no horns, and will be of top-notch eating quality.
The National Bush Summit invites community leaders, policy-makers and politicians to discuss challenges facing rural and regional communities. These groups will come together to propose practical solutions that opens new opportunities and improve services in regional Australia, as well as celebrate local success.
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.
The red dirt and cattle country of the Kimberley has long been defined by its hard men and cowboys, yet it is women who are shaping the region’s future.For the past several years, the Fords have been living at Fossil Downs station, just east of Fitzroy Crossing, where their father, Rick Ford, is the station manager. Fossil Downs, owned by Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture since 2015, is one of Western Australia’s most historic stations. Its success – and the women who have made Fossil Downs such a powerhouse in the Kimberley – will be among the topics at WA’s first Bush Summit next Monday, hosted by The Australian and Hancock Prospecting.
We have done what we promised to do: to consult, to listen and to review.To consider carefully, and if required, to act. To deliver a positive way forward for everyone. A way forward that values and preserves the oldest known living culture in the world and ensures West Australians can continue to live their lives and reach their full potential. | Roger Cook
Healthy, happy cows may produce higher-quality milk, according to researchers studying the vitamin and mineral profile of milk from dairies across Western Australia. While the milk from all six WA dairies tested showed high levels of B12, B2, calcium, and lactoferrin, a dairy part-owned by billionaire Gina Rinehart stood out for its particularly high vitamin and calcium content. “It’s interesting because we’ve been producing consumer milk for more than 18 years now and in that time a lot of people have said, ‘what do you do differently?’, and so we’ve been aware that our milk is different, but not really sure why,” Bannister Downs managing director Sue Daubney said. The next phase will aim to determine the exact drivers behind the higher-quality product by testing it against other variables.Bannister Downs is jointly owned by the Daubney family and Mrs Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting.
