Rinehart defends family in $15m Diamonds netball sponsorship row

Australia’s richest woman has defended her family and company’s record on supporting Indigenous people, as a controversy intensifies over her sponsorship of the women’s national netball team.

Australia’s richest woman has defended her family and company’s record on support for First Nations people, as the row intensifies over her sponsorship of the Diamonds women’s national netball team.

In her company’s first comments since the controversy broke out, Gina Rinehart said her company, Hancock Prospecting, had a long, rich and “positive” history with traditional owners.

The comments come after a cohort of players are believed to be concerned the values of Ms Rinehart’s company do not align with theirs, with national team members keen to hold talks with head office – or even Ms Rinehart herself – to discuss concerns around environmental and First Nations issues, especially with the imminent debut of only the third Indigenous Diamond.

It followed a statement in the 1980s from her late father Lang Hancock that Indigenous Australians should be sterilised.

The Australian Diamonds in Auckland, New Zealand. Picture: Getty Images

Netball Australia trumpeted about the deal just over a fortnight ago when Hancock Prospecting has agreed to a sponsorship arrangement of $15m over the next four years, money that would go to the players and coaches.

It came after Netball Australia admitted it was virtually broke.

But the company logo’s absence from the Diamonds’ gold dress in the Constellation Cup opener last Wednesday led to speculation there had been a boycott by the players.

Netball Australia has since confirmed in a statement the logo-bearing dress, which will still feature naming-rights sponsor Origin, was delayed “pending the resolution of outstanding matters relating to the player interim agreement and certain sensitivities”.

In a statement to The Courier-Mail on Sunday night, a spokesperson for Ms Rinehart said they were aware “there has been some recent inquiries raised regarding Hancock’s relationships

with traditional owners” but Hancock had “positive agreements with all the native titleholders in the areas we operate in, providing very significant royalty payments to the traditional owners in all our mining areas, well in excess of $300m in the last seven years alone”.

“We work very closely with the communities on providing training, jobs, business development and contracting opportunities as well as heritage, health and education initiatives,” the statement said.

Gina Rinehart. Picture: Hancock Prospecting

“Hancock recently awarded a significant mining contract for the Miralga Creek mine to a traditional owner business from the area, the first such award we are aware of in the Pilbara, which is working very well.”

The spokesperson said the positive relationship has a long history, after Ms Rinehart “personally gave a significant part of Mulga Downs Station, at the request of a then elder so that he could provide cultural learnings to younger Indigenous people” in the early 1990s and which they said continues to exist today.

“We offer extensive work and opportunities in the Pilbara where the majority of our operations are located,” the statement said.

“This includes in addition to other initiatives, programs such as Hanrine Futures Indigenous Scholarship Program, which provides education, work experience and training to young people from traditional owner groups, the Pilbara Faces Program that helps to identify rare diseases in Indigenous children in the Pilbara utilising innovative facial recognition technology, and taking some of the Olympic athletes we sponsor up to the Pilbara to continue to inspire the local people and help those interested with their sporting endeavours.”

The statement said, assuming Netball Australia was able to reach agreement with relevant parties, the company looked forward to “working with Netball Australia and the Diamonds to support and provide more opportunities for many people, including young Indigenous people in the Pilbara, broader West Australia and Australia”.

Gina Rinehart.

The statement said Hancock Prospecting and Gina Rinehart had a long and well-regarded history of supporting Australian athletes.

“Our long-term partnerships with Australia’s top swimming, rowing, volleyball and artistic swimming athletes has spanned more than a decade; indeed, at a state level in a number of these sports for over 30 years, benefiting thousands of athletes,” it said.

It said the new principal partnership with Netball Australia would keep with the tradition of previous partnerships in that it is athlete focused.

“Assuming Netball Australia can reach agreement with relevant parties, $3.5m each year for four years can be directed to the Diamonds High Performance Program and importantly includes that 100 per cent of these funds would go to athletes and for coach salaries and the delivery of camps and competition costs, with none to be spent on any administrative costs,” the statement said.

“Hancock Prospecting understands this sponsorship would help Netball Australia to have certainty around the Diamonds Program moving forward after a period of very real financial distress.”

The support of Ms Rinehart’s company would enable Netball Australia to retain ownership of all its commercial assets including the Super Netball League, ensuring the revenue from the growth can be invested directly back into the sport of netball “for generations to come”.

“We note that this would not have been possible should a commercial agreement have been implemented with another entity, prior to Netball Australia choosing Hancock Prospecting,” the statement said.