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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.

“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.

Hancock Agriculture chairwoman Gina Rinehart said the summit was an opportunity for governments to better understand those living and working outside our cities. “Eighty-five per cent of Australians live in large urban locations, but we should not forget the engine room of our country, that being outside the cities in mining and agriculture and all of those who work in our bush,” she said. “They in turn make possible jobs for the many businesses the primary industries support; the truckies, the shops, even accountants, legals, tax advisers and many more.”

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.