Gina Rinehart reveals discussion with world’s richest man Elon Musk

Australia’s wealthiest person Gina Rinehart recently had a private meeting with Elon Musk, in Florida, at a Donald Trump victory party.

Australia’s wealthiest person Gina Rinehart recently had a private meeting with Elon Musk in Florida, it has been revealed.

The meeting took place the day after Donald Trump’s election victory, with the two billionaire magnates attended an exclusive party at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.

Ms Rinehart, who chairs Hancock Prospecting with an estimated net worth of $30 billion, confirmed the meeting in a statement to the Australian Financial Review this week.

The discussions between the two moguls covered a range of topics, including government efficiency and free speech.

Mr Musk, who is estimated to be worth over $466 billion, announced recently that he will head a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is aimed at reducing bureaucratic waste and bringing balance to the US economy.

Ms Rinehart praised Mr Musk’s initiative, saying it’s something Australia should look to replicate.

“It gave me the opportunity to thank him for his loyal, steadfast support of President Trump despite all the lies and misrepresentations and worse that was thrown at the president (that’s what real friendship is),” Ms Rinehart said via the Daily Mail.

She also congratulated Mr Musk on his efforts to drive government efficiency, acknowledging the fact that both the US and Australia are grappling with rising debts, taxes, and inflation.

“Both countries are running huge debts, which leads to higher taxation, high interest, and inflation, affecting us all, so it’s very important to cut government waste as Elon advocates,” she added.

Australia’s wealthiest person Gina Rinehart recently had a private meeting with Elon Musk in Florida.

Mr Musk, who is estimated to be worth over $466 billion, announced recently that he will head a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is aimed at reducing bureaucratic waste and bringing balance to the US economy.

The discussions between the two moguls covered a range of topics, including government efficiency and free speech.

Nearly one in five workers in Australia is a government employee, with wage rises — far outpacing those in the private sector — and hiring sprees driving public sector spending to a record 27.3 per cent of GDP in the June quarter.

“The government’s massive expansion of the public payroll just adds to inflation,” Nationals Senator Matt Canavan told news.com.au.

“Everyone else is tightening their belt and we need the government to as well so we can lose the mantle as the developed country with the highest inflation in the world.”

The latest inflation figures for the September quarter showed price rises eased to a three-year low of 2.8 per cent — but the all-important underlying inflation, which removes any volatile changes, remained above the Reserve Bank’s target at 3.5 per cent.

Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume told Sky News on Monday public sector spending at state and federal levels was the “biggest driver” of inflation.

“It’s not just the Coalition that are saying this — it is the IMF, it is the Reserve Bank,” Ms Hume said. “The only way to deal with a national crisis is with a national response.”

Australia had 2,517,900 public sector employees in June, with 365,400 of those in the federal government, 1,939,100 in state government and 213,500 in local councils, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

That equates to more than 17 per cent per cent of the total working population, which was 14,402,500 in the same month.

- with Frank Chung

Originally published as Gina Rinehart reveals discussion with world’s richest man Elon Musk