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Australian billionaire businesswoman Gina Rinehart, through Hancock Agriculture, has seized the opportunity presented by the recently signed Australia-UK free trade deal to enter the British beef market. Rinehart introduced her premium beef products, including the renowned wagyu product called 2GR, from Hancock Agriculture and three new high-quality meats from S. Kidman farms. Emphasising the welfare of the animals, the superior quality, and the detailed provenance of the meat, Rinehart showcased her offerings to a diverse audience consisting of distributors, top chefs, butchers, high-end department stores, and Australian diplomats at the prestigious Meat and Wine Co restaurant in Mayfair.

Two events in the past week provide a revealing insight into the Cook Government’s approach to the implementation of updated Aboriginal heritage laws.

Damning new research has revealed WA farmers are the most heavily regulated in the country and the State’s new Aboriginal cultural heritage laws are only expected to ‘make a bad situation worse’. Damning new research has revealed WA farmers are the most heavily regulated in the country and the State’s new Aboriginal cultural heritage laws are only expected to “make a bad situation worse”.

An e-petition calling on the Cook Government to delay the introduction of WA’s Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act has amassed more than 29,000 signatures in a fortnight, smashing the previous WA record. The petition — which was only open to WA residents — was launched on June 6 by Pastoralists and Graziers Association of WA president Tony Seabrook, pictured, and closed on Tuesday. It calls for the Act’s July 1 start date to be pushed back at least six months after backlash from farmers and Native Title groups, and amid concerns the infrastructure required to administer it is not ready. Shadow heritage minister Neil Thomson — who was due to present the document to Parliament on Wednesday — urged the Government to “take note of the massive response”.

June 2023.

HANCOCK Agriculture and S. Kidman chair Gina Rinehart and her senior pastoral management team hosted an event in a top London Mayfair restaurant yesterday, celebrating the first month of tariff-free beef trade under the new Free Trade Agreement. Yesterday’s occasion officially launched Kidman beef and two new Hancock Ag 2GR Wagyu branded products into the UK market. The three Kidman brands – 120-day grainfed, Kidman Premium and Kidman Platinum – are all EU accredited, HGP-free and Halal certified. Sister company Hancock has been selling its high-end 2GR Wagyu product into the UK for some time, but since BREXIT has been paying the full tariff on shipments.

While frenzied buying of Australian farmland did not continue at the same pace in the 2022-23 financial year, record-high prices remained, resulting in some extraordinary results. Most notably, Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has significantly restructured her agricultural portfolio in the past 12 months, selling four S. Kidman and Co cattle stations, which spanned more than 2.4 million hectares in Queensland and the Northern Territory. In the past year, Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Agriculture has shifted towards cropping and Wagyu production, purchasing the Findley family’s 6860ha Wee Waa aggregation in northern NSW for $150 million while also paying about $80 million for two of Packhorse Pastoral’s cattle stations.

The backlash against the state legislation has been led by farmers, miners and property developers, and whipped up by the Liberals and National parties, which both oppose the Voice. Almost 30,000 people have signed a petition urging the Western Australia government to delay the legislation for at least six months. Pastoralists and Graziers’ Association president Tony Seamark, who filed the petition alongside Neil Thomson, the Liberal shadow planning minister, said the legislation has created an “intolerable” situation for landowners.

In the association’s submission during consultation, the group expressed concerns for its 2085 members. “This will have significant detrimental flow-on effects. The processes . . . will severely impact prospectors, sending some completely out of business. “APLA does not support the unworkable process . . . due to the catastrophic effect it will have on prospecting.”

The unachievable “net zero” is a massive con. Our piddling contribution to reducing emissions of CO2 is wiped by the growth in emissions-producing power plants in China, Africa and elsewhere. Oh, and it’s destroying our economy too. But it wasn’t enough for Labor and the Greens and the Teals to have signed up to this humbug. They went further and backed the Voice referendum which, if passed, would give a blank cheque to anyone claiming a skerrick of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage to challenge any law and administrative action, or non-action, on the grounds that they may be affected.