Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has again criticised government bureaucracy for jeopardising Australians’ living standards, despite the approval of her new iron ore mine.
On Wednesday, Ms Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting confirmed the federal government had given the final green light to its $600 million McPhee project, north of its massive Roy Hill operation near Nullagine in Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region.
The mine is expected to produce around 10 million tonnes of ore annually from financial year 2025-26.
The project was first submitted for environmental approval in early 2021 and was originally expected to open in 2023, but Hancock Prospecting project executive director Sanjiv Manchanda said the proposal experienced a “multitude of challenges” and had been stalled by changes to heritage legislation and federal environmental guidelines.
The delay provoked the anger of Ms Rinehart over ‘‘five government measures’, which he warned would hamper investment and compromise living standards.
“Mines are not like wool, which grows every year. They need to be studied, invested in and developed if we want to maintain our standard of living,” he said.
‘This is serious if we continue to introduce policies and add government bureaucracy that continue to attack the goose that lays the golden eggs of mining, making projects more expensive and uncertain, there are other countries that have iron ore and other minerals.
‘Investment will continue to shift overseas as we continue to see record business closures, affecting many families, and a fall in living standards affecting Australians across our country, for six consecutive quarters now.
The delay in approval of Hancock Prospecting’s $600 million McPhee project in WA has sparked anger from Ms Rinehart over “government red tape”, which she warned will hamper investment and compromise living standards.
“I think it’s important that we make investments and projects more welcome and that we continue to receive the benefits of the mining industry and the companies that support it.”
In the year to June 30, 2023, Hancock made a net profit of $5.04 billion from $13.2 billion in revenue, compared with a net profit of $5.8 billion on $14.6 billion in revenue in 2022.
The result represented the largest profit in Australia for a locally owned private company during that financial year.
Ms. Rinehart herself is estimated to be worth $46 billion.
His comments about the mining industry sounding like a “catch-all” come as Anthony Albanese’s government struggles to make good on an election promise to establish a new agency, Environment Protection Australia, that would be able to impose tough penalties on companies that breach environmental laws.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is in talks with the Coalition, Greens and other independent MPs over the proposed body, but the Greens’ demand for a “climate trigger” to allow the agency to reject industrial or fossil fuel projects that contribute negatively to climate change has complicated the legislation.
Mining companies and industry groups fear the agency’s role will further delay projects, inflate costs and deter new investment.
Instead, the ALP says the agency would cut green red tape by providing businesses with fast, clear advice to help streamline the environmental approvals process.
Ms Rinehart warned that living standards could fall if investment continues to move overseas (file image)
Ms Plibersek said she would not incorporate the “Greens’ electoral politics” into the government’s bill.
Western Australia’s Pilbara region supplied the world with 38 percent of its iron ore last year, and two-thirds of China’s iron ore came from there.
But now there are dire warnings about the price importers will pay for Australian iron ore in the coming years following the bursting of China’s property bubble.
AMP Deputy Chief Economist Diana Mousina recently told Daily Mail Australia that iron ore prices could fall further if Chinese stock market investors became nervous and lower risk sentiment weighed on key commodity prices.
“I think there is a risk of iron ore prices falling, but for the price to fall to $60 a tonne, the Chinese economy would need to weaken much further,” Mousina said.