Gina Rinehart has criticised fellow billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest for his failed “green hydrogen” dreams, while arguing that “her friend” Donald Trump has the right idea of lowering energy prices by “drilling” for natural gas.
Ms Rinehart used her fourth video address at the Bush National Summit, held in the central-west New South Wales town of Orange on Thursday, to argue that renewables or even nuclear were not the way to urgently control rising energy costs.
Without naming him, he was even more scathing about fellow mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s failed foray into “green hydrogen” production, which was slashed last month at the cost of 700 jobs.
“If some billionaire wants to spend money on unproven, highly flammable and explosive hydrogen, let them do so, but it should be at their own expense, not as a burden on taxpayers and not to add to our record national debt,” Rinehart said.
In 2023 the Albanian government injected $2 billion in Forrest’s ambitions to produce 15 million tonnes of hydrogen fuel by the end of the decade, a target that has now been abandoned.
Ms Rinehart was also scathing in her criticism of renewable energy sources, which the Albanian and state governments are pushing as Australia’s future.
‘‘It’s clear our governments have got energy policy wrong,’ said Ms Rinehart.
“Our bills continue to rise, demand and supply have been affected and our energy system is becoming increasingly unreliable.”
In her video address on the fourth day of the Bush National Summit, Ms. Rinehart was scathing of police for promoting renewable energy.
‘Many warned what was happening, but our governments chose not to listen.
‘Instead, they focused much of their efforts and our taxpayers’ money on forcing ever more so-called ‘renewable’ energy sources onto the grid, insisting on the closure of cheap and reliable coal-fired power stations while halting gas development.’
Mrs. Rinehart said that those who “Those who like to claim that our country can run on sunlight and windmills should of course install them on their property if they so wish.”
“But don’t force it on us when the wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, even at night!” said Mrs Rinehart.
It was at this point that, for the second day in a row, Ms. Rinehart’s video speech did not go entirely as planned, although it might have seemed scripted.
As she herself said, “the sun doesn’t always shine, even at night,” the lighting battery ran out and Mrs. Rinehart was plunged into darkness, becoming just a silhouette on the screen.
Just as she had on Wednesday, when a persistent horse kept nibbling at her jacket, Mrs Rinehart bravely carried on and the light was restored shortly after.
Instead of renewable energy, Ms Rinehart said Australia should follow in the footsteps of its “pro-energy security friend” who says “drill, baby, drill” – a mantra used by Mr Trump, who is running as a Republican candidate to win back the office he lost in 2020.
“We have plenty of natural gas in Australia and if we decide not to use our huge coal deposits, let’s at least take advantage of our gas resources,” Ms Rinehart said.
Mining magnate Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest has drastically scaled back his ambitions to produce ‘green hydrogen’ despite the Albanian government investing $2 billion last year
Ms Rinehart said we should follow the mantra of her “pro-energy security friend”, US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who often has audiences chanting “drill, baby, drill”.
‘Natural gas is needed as a raw material for manufacturing and processing, in addition to its uses to generate electricity for homes, offices, hospitals, shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, traffic lights, schools, sports and entertainment centers.
‘Those who don’t want to use gas, should choose not to use it, but those who want reliable energy, should have it.’
While Ms Rinehart said that although Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plan to install more nuclear power involved a “proven” energy source, it was “more than a decade away” or even two decades due to “red tape and government approvals”.
“Let’s develop our vast natural gas resources and get all the supply we need,” Ms. Rinehart said.
Ms Rinehart’s iconic Australian clothing brand, Driza-Bone, is one of the sponsors of the Bush Summit, which spans six days across six different regional locations.
Regional centres hosting the summit are Townsville in Queensland, Bendigo in Victoria, Launceston in Tasmania, McLaren Vale in South Australia, Orange in New South Wales and Port Hedland in Western Australia.