Calls for Gina Rinehart to apologise for father’s racist comments after $15m Netball Australia funding withdrawal

The fallout from the loss of a major sponsorship deal continues for netball. But one word from billionaire Gina Rinehart could change things.

Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s silence about her late father’s comments calling for the “sterilisation” of Aboriginal people has sparked fury online.

Rinehart’s mining company Hancock Prospecting sensationally pulled the plug on its $15 million sponsorship of Netball Australia on Saturday night.

The response followed revelations that Diamonds players had concerns about wearing a team uniform that included sponsorship branding from the company.

The issue came to a head when Indigenous player Donnell Wallam, who was set to debut for the Diamonds this week, was said to be uncomfortable wearing a uniform with the logo.

The decision to remove the lifeline sponsorship came despite reports Wallam was willing to wear the original Diamonds garb as the “pressure had become too much to bear”.

While a string of politicians including Jacqui Lambie and Barnaby Joyce condemned the netball team as being ungrateful, ordinary Australians took to social media to question why Rinehart still hadn’t apologised or distanced herself from her father’s comments.

Australian Diamonds player Donnell Wallam is the third indigenous player to play on Australia’s national netball team.

Rinehart’s iron ore magnate father Lang Hancock made the offensive comments in the 1984 documentary Couldn’t be Fairer, eight years before his death.

“Those that have been assimilated into earning good living and earning wages among the civilised areas and have been accepted into society and can handle society, I’d leave them well alone,” he said at the time.

“The ones that are no good to themselves … I would dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in the future, and that would solve the problem.”

In light of the controversy, there has been a groundswell of support to call on Ms Rinehart to apologise for her father’s comments.

“If I can be held accountable for the actions of every South Sudanese person in Australia, then Gina Rinehart can acknowledge the actions of the man she inherited her fortune from,” wrote Melbourne-based South Sudanese artist, Atong Atem.

“It would amount to ABSOLUTELY nothing without action. Literally folks are asking her to do good PR via empty gesture but it’s only fair.”

Gina Rinehart has never commented on the comments Lang Hancock (pictured) made in 1984. Picture: YouTube.

Former rugby league footballer and professional boxer Anthony Mundine, also threw his weight behind Donnell and called for an apology.

“What if someone from the Aboriginal community had said that about a group of white people, that we should poison their waters? What would the reaction be?” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“Anyone that thinks like him, speaks like him, believes what he believes, is detrimental to humankind.

“She could have apologised for her father’s comments, distanced herself from them and told us that she doesn’t believe those things. Instead, she pulled her money out.”

“ The Aboriginal Problem” this is Australia. This is Hancock. #istandwithdonnellwallamhttps://t.co/7BcBhwOMUMpic.twitter.com/jj9sK3LS7R

— Nessa Turnbull-Roberts (@TurnbullVanessa) October 22, 2022

Retired soccer player and human rights activist Craig Foster quoted an ABC article that referenced one of Netball Australia’s initial requests of Rinehart before the sponsorship deal was axed.

“That an apology be made or at least some distance be put between Lang Hancock’s genocide comments and the values of the current leadership of Hancock Prospecting, led by Gina Rinehart,’” he quoted in a tweet.

“Surely must be a requirement of every associated sporting body,” he added.

Another Twitter user said that Ms Rinehart’s “action speak louder than words”.

“#GoWokeGoBroke is trending in Australia because a netball team asked sponsor & mining magnate Gina Rinehart to address her father’s advocacy for genociding Aboriginal Aussies.

Instead of condemning racism, Gina chose to withdraw $15M in funding,” they wrote.

If I can be held accountable for the actions of every South Sudanese person in Australia, then Gina Rinehart can acknowledge the actions of the man she inherited her fortune from

— Atong Atem 🍂 (@atongatem) October 23, 2022

#GoWokeGoBroke is trending in Australia because a netball team asked sponsor & mining magnate Gina Rinehart to address her father's advocacy for genociding Aborigional Aussies

Instead condemning racism, Gina chose to withdraw $15M in funding

Actions speak louder than words…

— RadHom (@RealRadHom) October 22, 2022

But other Twitter users claimed Ms Rinehart shouldn’t be held responsible for her father’s comments.

“But remember Gina Rinehart is bad cause she didn’t apologise for something her dad say 40 years ago,” tweeted one user.

“There are real problems around the world, it’s time to focus.”

Another user shared: “Gina Rinehart is detestable. But don’t you see the problem with holding someone accountable for something their father said? Demanding an apology from the daughter for something her father said four decades ago lest be judged as if she’d said it?”

Gina Rinehart is detestable. But don't you see the problem with holding someone accountable for something their father said? Demanding an apology from the daughter for something her father said 4 decades ago lest be judged as if she'd said it?

— Mac Hamilton 🇺🇦 (@maks_amillion) October 23, 2022

To date, Ms Rinehart has never made public comment on her father’s views.

In response to their funding withdrawal, Hancock Prospecting made a statement in which they said they never insisted that its logo be worn by athletes.

“Hancock and Roy Hill were not made aware prior to the proposed partnerships, of the complexity of existing issues between Netball Australia and the Players Association,” the statement read.

“Hancock, and similarly Roy Hill, embarked on these proposed partnerships in good faith and on the basis of representations and its resulting understanding that Netball Australia and the sport’s key stakeholder groups including the Australian Diamonds, were united in their support of one of West Australia’s pre-eminent mining companies becoming their principal sponsor.”