She sent her strongest message about the expensive bill farmers were facing to meet zero emission CO2 targets. Her Hancock Agriculture business runs 14 farm properties in Western Australia with 12,000 head of Wagyu beef cattle, one of the largest herds in the country. ‘Agriculture usually doesn’t have the financial resources that the mining industry has and this is a big thing we I think we are overlooking,’ she said. ‘It just doesn’t have the resources – unless of course you’ve got, you know, a mining company in your back pocket. ‘You’ve actually got to add up the expense of these net-zero policies on farmers. ‘Just look at acquiring electric vehicles alone,’ she added. ‘Be they for lawn mowers motorbikes utes, four wheel drives, tractors, harvesters, trucks, bulldozers, graders, front end loaders. ‘It’s going to cost a fortune that farmers and pastoralists don’t have without a mining company in the back pocket. They just don’t have this money to be able to invest.’
The executive chair of Hancock Prospecting and Hancock Agriculture Gina Rinehart used the first Bush Summit in Western Australia to urge state and federal government to massively cut red tape, return regional revenue to the bush and ease the pain of net zero policies on farmers. Ms Rinehart delivered the keynote address at The Australian’s summit in Perth on Monday where she offered a list of key reforms to improve the lives of rural Australians.
“It’s going to cost a fortune that farmers and pastoralists don’t have, without a mining company in their back pocket. They just don’t Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, says farmers and the agriculture sector cannot afford the transition to net zero and governments should step in to cover most of the costs. this money to be able to invest.”
Gina Rinehart is pushing for Australia to become nuclearpowered instead of upsetting farmers with “bird-killing” wind generators and sprawling fields of solar panels. The billionaire made her case for nuclear energy while warning that the demand of meeting net zero carbon emissions could force Aussie farmers and graziers off the land, and lead to higher food prices. Giving a speech at The Australian Bush Summit, the mining magnate said governments had to step in to help farmers by cutting red tape and providing “real assistance”.
West Australian mining company Roy Hill has developed its own internal chatbot to give its employees better insights about the company’s functions and to increase their personal productivity. The program was developed after executive chairman Gina Rinehart put out a challenge 18 months ago for the leaders of WA mining companies to use AI to help increase productivity. “The system is designed to respond to a broad spectrum of inquiries related to production data, company policies and procedures, as well as general HR information,” Roy Hill said in a statement. “Roy Hill’s employees interact with RoyBot using natural language, asking questions through the internal web application.”
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.
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 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.
