By Kishor Napier-Raman and Stephen Brook
For Gina Rinehart, Christmas came early with her friend Donald Trump’s election win last November.
Since then, it’s been an everlasting festive season for Australia’s richest person, who’s been jetting off to Mar-a-Lago and Washington DC with missionary zeal.
Former Hancock Prospecting employee James Radford, Sam Bjelke-Petersen, Gina Rinehart and former Liberal Party vice-president Teena McQueen at a Trump rally in Virginia.
But in December, Rinehart took a break from courting the world’s most powerful men to appear at a Christmas event with the humble workers at her Roy Hill mine, where she received the kind of sycophantic welcome that would put the US president to shame.
A 20-minute highlight reel was dropped as an unlisted video on the Hancock Prospecting YouTube channel on Christmas, giving your humble correspondents a rare insight into the cult-like devotion Mrs Rinehart (as she prefers to go by) inspires among employees.
Festivities began with a choir, decked out in pink Roy Hill polos, Rinehart-owned Rossi boots and S Kidman Santa hats, delivering a rendition of the Mariah Carey classic: All I want for Christmas is ... to make Australia great.
Up next, a gushing tribute from Hancock Prospecting executive Gerhard Veldsman to the dear leader.
“We are very, very fortunate, not just fortunate for working in this great industry ... but to be working for a great person,” he cooed.
“Mrs Rinehart has really built this company from nothing. It started with a dream, and she built it up,” Veldsman said, describing the company the magnate inherited from her father.
After that, it was time for the choir to unveil a new hit Christmas single, Drill Baby Drill, a reference to a favourite slogan of Trump’s from the campaign trail.
“With the Chairman’s guidance, we reach new heights. Merry Christmas to all, and may our dreams take flight,” went the chorus, which was one-upped only by the second verse.
“To our dear Chairman, we give our thanks. For leading us forward through all the ranks. Your wisdom and strength light up our way, we honour you greatly, on this special day.”
Rinehart bopped along enthusiastically, lapping it up.
As for the brains behind such lyrics, Rinehart hinted that the carols had been written by artificial intelligence.
The queen’s speech
Rinehart herself didn’t waste an opportunity to rev up the troops.
Sporting a tiny pair of reindeer antlers, Gina was full of praise for her Christmas choir, while urging the good folk at Roy Hill to put the word out there that coal is back.
Gina Rinehart delivers a $100,000 cheque to a lucky employee.
“You might have seen my outfit at Mar-a-Lago in Florida this year and at National Mining Day, where I wore the very important words dig, baby, dig,” she said.
Festivities concluded with an annual Hancock tradition – the raffle in which a handful of lucky, randomly selected employees are given a $100,000 cash bonus.
Upon receiving his giant novelty cheque from Rinehart, one fortunate Roy Hill employee celebrated with a rousing cry of “make Australia great again”.
Man of the people
At the Australian Open, AFL Commission chair Richard Goyder, along with others of his corporate stature (the great man is also chair of Woodside Energy), was enjoying the men’s final from the best seats in Rod Laver Arena as a guest of Tennis Australia chair Jayne Hrdlicka, whose third term runs out this year. Is this the end?
So it’s great to see that those in prime hospitality positions sometimes choose the more common man options on the way home.
And so it was when one of CBD’s bosses snapped this spontaneous shot of Goyder and his wife Janine, heading along the corridor at Richmond train station after schlepping the 300 metres from Grand Slam Oval.
AFL chairman Richard Goyder, his wife Janine Goyder, and Coles CEO Leah Weckert at Richmond train station.Credit: David King
The duo were in the company of Coles chief executive Leah Weckert, who had been enjoying the hospitality of corporate financier Barrenjoey.
Everybody’s favourite celebrity guest, martial arts actor Jackie Chan, doubled down with a return visit to the Open after turning heads at the women’s final on Saturday night, when he brought along two unusual plus ones: toy pandas that he perched in front of him.
Chan was a guest of the Chinese liquor brand that spends millions of dollars sponsoring the Open, Luzhou Laojiao, which plasters all those 1573 ads everywhere. But it seems Chan had engaged in guerrilla marketing of his own with his furry friends. His latest film, not yet available in Australia, is called… Panda Plan.
Meanwhile, awkward moments at Another Newspaper, which managed in its round-up of the great and the good to print a photo mistaking Nine chair Catherine West for Rachel Schutze, wife of deputy prime minister Richard Marles.
SPOTTED: Before our Christmas break, readers might have noticed that one of your columnists was trapped for four days in the retail methuselah known as Chadstone shopping centre, along with 2 million other shoppers over the festive period. You can read that profile here.
Hanging around the Hello Kitty cafe (don’t judge us), we did a double-take when we saw that the shopper plonked down at an outside table opposite us enjoying a takeaway brew was none other than the former chief executive of Fairfax Media, proud former owners of this masthead, Greg Hywood. You’ll find everyone at Chaddy.