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THIS week’s property review looks at reasons behind the change in direction for Gina Rinehart’s two pastoral businesses – Hancock Agriculture and the S. Kidman & Co joint venture – and some interesting developments in the property space concerning the companies. Nobody has been more active in the Australian grazing property market than Ms Rinehart over the past five years, both as a buyer and seller. When Mrs Rinehart decided to offload eight properties spanning 1.9 million hectares in 2020, some media saw this as first signs of her ‘bowing out’ of agriculture. The claims couldn’t have been further from the truth. Australia’s richest woman was simply realigning her strategy to improve the genetics and quality of her cattle and also create a better balance between her breeding and finishing country. There’s also compelling evidence it was about reducing her exposure to northern live export trade, in favour of traditional Australian production and processing.

Ian Henschke from National Seniors Australia. I think we need to recognise that we’ve got a jobs crisis in Australia, 450,000 plus jobs going begging and we’ve got 4.5 million Australians over 65. Ian says the work bonus should just be the beginning of major reforms in the system. He’d like to see Australia follow in the footsteps of New Zealand, where pensioners can work as much as they like without losing benefits. New Zealand has a workforce participation rate of 71%, we’ve got 66%, they’ve got 5% more of their population working and most of it is older workers. That’s where they’re getting their workforce from. Let’s take the handbrake off the economy and let those pensioners work and let those retirees work.

Feature image above, Mrs Rinehart with Sue Daubney, Managing Director of Bannister Downs Award winning dairy products, during marketing tour of Vietnam. Ongoing photos representing this momentous time.

Head Chef Danny Fong presents and prepares Australian 2GR Premium Wagyu beef at Michelin Award winning restaurant Osia | 2023

AUSTRALIA is facing a workforce crisis it’s never seen before. Job vacancies are approaching half a million, dragging business and economic growth down and fuelling a cost-of-living crisis. The hardest hit sectors include agriculture, hospitality, mining, tourism, and the caring industries. The Federal Government has raised the yearly permanent migration quota by 35,000 – but workforce shortages are not going to be solved by immigration alone. We need to boost participation and support people with limited income and savings to earn more. We also need to boost tax revenue to pay for health, aged care, and other social services. To fix these economic and socioeconomic challenges we must “let people work”.