Australia’s richest business leader Gina Rinehart savages net-zero ambitions
Gina Rinehart urges Australians to stand up to ‘truth twisters, truth hiders and truth avoiders’ on net zero.
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Gina Rinehart has savaged net-zero emissions ambitions and urged Australians not to be distracted by labels such as “far right” in seeking to protect their lifestyles and investment in the country.
Australia’s richest person warned of the consequences of falling business investment after being asked to comment on Rio Tinto’s decision to build a new $US1.6bn ($2.4bn) iron ore mine in partnership with her private company, Hancock Prospecting.
“It’s time not to be distracted by name-calling like far right and other names, and stick to the fact that investment is beneficial, and unfortunately declining in Australia,” she said in a written statement.
“We need to stand up, ignore the truth twisters, truth hiders and truth avoiders, and to point out what’s needed if we want to see such investment bring jobs and benefits to many Aussies.”
The new mine, an extension of Rio and Hancock’s Hope Downs joint venture, is expected to create more than 950 jobs during construction. Once operational in 2027, the project known as Hope Downs 2 will help sustain about 1000 full-time jobs.
Hancock encouraged Rio to pull the trigger on Hope Downs 2 and also wants it to develop other deposits that sit within their joint venture sooner rather than later.
“The Hope Downs 2 announcement with Hancock Prospecting’s partner Rio Tinto is a time for us to reflect over the years we have looked forward to such development, of the benefit this investment and project will bring to local people approximately 1200 kilometres from Perth, and to many West Australian and Australian businesses supplying goods and services,” said Mrs Rinehart, who is estimated to have a fortune worth about $38bn generated from iron ore mines and other investments, including in gas, agriculture and critical minerals.
“Plus the tax and royalty revenues this Hope Downs project will add to federal and state governments, helping to pay for the much-needed thousands of nurses and police – and their training, too – our essential defence personnel, emergency services and much more.
“Without such investment and projects, our living standards will suffer, and we will become a very different country.
“If we want to see projects like Hope Downs 2 continue to be built, Australia needs to honestly confront and urgently address the reasons for its recent years of declining investment.
“We believe it is very necessary to encourage investment and companies like Rio to invest in Australia.”
Truth hiders
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, new private capital expenditure fell by 0.1 per cent in the March quarter, and was 0.5 per cent lower than for the same period a year earlier. Business investment fell 0.9 per cent in non-mining industries, while the mining industry rose 1.9 per cent.
Mining giants Rio, BHP, Glencore and others have issued warnings about policy settings making Australia less attractive for investment.
Mrs Rinehart said Australia’s proliferation of red tape and regulation was adding expense and reducing productivity, but saved her harshest criticism for net-zero policies.
“The most massive of which is the trillions of taxpayers’ and shareholders’ money being wasted on net zero, adding expense not only to businesses, and resulting in even more record business failures, but expense for every Australian adult, and future Aussie adults, ensuring our taxes remain high,” she said.
“Not forgetting, even if Australia reduces its approximately 1 per cent share of (global) emissions, what benefit is there really in the overwhelming expense and consequences that such reduction brings?
“The truth hiders are not telling us manufacturing often requires 24-hour reliable electricity, such as dairy and aluminium, steel and AI. They ignore the consequences.
“The truth avoiders are not telling us that, given the increasing introduction of renewables, businesses, even small ones, are being called up by bureaucrats demanding they stop using mains at times, so that thousands of homes in the cities don’t lose power at peak times.
“The truth twisters are not telling us of the trillion-plus of taxpayers’ dollars net zero will cost, or the further trillion businesses will have to pay for net zero. We all lose when soaring energy prices damage our lives and competitiveness.”
Mrs Rinehart warned that chasing the “unobtainable and expensive magic pudding” of net zero would “negatively impact our way of life for generations to come”.
“Why not let those who want to reduce their emissions do so, and who want net-zero efforts, be the ones who pay for them. While Australia instead follows the lead of the USA and other countries who put their citizens first,” she said.
New mine approval process
Rio and Mrs Rinehart’s private company, Hancock Prospecting, pulled the trigger on the new mine after a marathon process, and after convincing three traditional owner groups to lend their support.
Rio kicked off the approval process for the Hope Downs 2 project in 2021, a year after it earned international condemnation for blowing up 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia’s Pilbara.
The mining giant has had to tread much more carefully and faced more onerous hurdles and traditional owner negotiations since Juukan Gorge, leading to doubts about its capacity to deliver on its target of a new mine a year until 2030 in the region where it faces problems with declining grades at existing operations.
The Hope Downs 2 project shores up Rio’s relationship with Mrs Rinehart built around the Hope Downs joint venture that currently includes the Hope Downs 1 and 4 and Baby Hope operations.
The Hope Downs 2 project, to mine Rio and Hancock’s Hope Downs 2 and Bedded Hilltop deposits, is slated to produce 31 million tonnes of iron ore a year from 2027.
Hancock and Rio will split the cost of developing the new mine, which the last of all necessary WA and federal government approvals signed off this month.
Rio said it had negotiated with the Nyiyaparli, Banjima and the Ngarlawangga traditional owner groups, along with relevant governments, to ensure the “responsible management of heritage and the environment” in development of the project.
The mining of the Hope Downs 2 and the Bedded Hilltop deposits was previously referred to in Rio’s plans as “Hope Downs 1 sustaining” because they will feed into existing infrastructure.
Hancock encouraged Rio to develop the Hope Downs 2 and Bedded Hilltop deposits and has also said it wants to see deposits known as Hope 3, 5 and 6 developed sooner rather than later under their joint venture.
However, the other deposits are not part of Rio’s present mine replacement timetable, which runs to the end of the decade.
Rio iron ore chief executive Simon Trott led the transaction team that pulled together the Hope Downs joint venture with Hancock signed in 2006, and is now one of the favourites to replace Jakob Stausholm as the mining giant’s chief executive.
Mr Trott said the Hope Downs 2 approval was a key milestone for Rio as it invested in the next generation of iron ore mines in the Pilbara. Rio is trying to at least maintain current production and keep a lid on costs during the transition.
Rio Tinto strategy
“These projects are part of our strategy to continue investing in Australian iron ore and to sustain Pilbara production for decades to come, supporting jobs, local businesses and the state and national economies,” Mr Trott said.
“The Pilbara has been critical to global steel supply for more than 60 years, and we are committed to ensuring it remains so well into the future.”
During the next three years, Rio expects to invest more than $US13bn ($21.1bn) on new mines, plant and equipment in the region.
Rio expects the Rhodes Ridge project, which sits close to the Hope Downs mines, to become the mainstay of its Pilbara iron ore operations from 2030.
Rhodes Ridge was at the centre of legal battles between Hancock and the heirs to the fortune of Peter Wright, including billionaire Angela Bennett, with Wright Prospecting eventually winning control. Mrs Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, and Mr Wright were business partners who helped pioneer the iron ore industry in WA.
Mr Wright’s descendants sold most of their stake in Rhodes Ridge to Japanese conglomerate Mitsui for $8bn this year.
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