Gina Rinehart drills, digs and destroys

It appears Gina Rinehart has a PR problem.

It's easy to control the narrative – indeed, to control almost everything – when you’re the richest person in the land. You can buy good publicity. You can buy not-so-good politicians. And you can buy and/or destroy stuff that gets in your way.

Nonetheless, as with most matters of reputation, it’s hard to pinpoint where the trouble began.

In the case of Gina Rinehart – who has an estimated personal fortune of $46.9 billion (US$31.5 billion) – it is extremely difficult to determine whether it began with the fact that she inherited Hancock Prospecting from her father, the late Lang Hancock, or whether Gina's own efforts to outdo his callous legacy are to blame.

Apart from his considerable excavating efforts, Gina's father was also known for his benevolent problem-solving skills, such as when he opined that any First Australians who had yet to "assimilate" be herded into one area, so he could:

"...dope the water up, so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future, and that would solve the problem."

Of course, Gina's PR problem may have started when she fought, at every turn, the rights of workers to increase their wages, forcing them to take pay cuts and advocating for a $2 per day wage, instead – while regularly pocketing record profits.

It may have begun when Gina – Australia's wealthiest person, who inherited her father's company – advised that the poor should just work harder, and cut down on drinking, smoking and socialising if they wanted to become wealthy like her.

Or maybe it was the time she raged against the rights of her own children to inherit a significant portion of their dastardly grandfather’s billions.

We may never know the exact cause of Gina’s PR problem, but it is clear her reputation is suffering.

Telltale signs include sponsoring the Australian Olympic Team and then using the sponsorship to share such profundities as:

“When mining does well, Australia does well, but when mining doesn’t do well, nor do Australians.”

Mmm, there’s a lot of deep stuff upon which all of us non-mega-rich mining magnates should think long and hard. Or, as Todd Sampson pointed out on Gruen, the message can be best summarised as, If you don’t support mining, I won’t support athletes, and we won’t do well at the Olympics.

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Other giveaways that Gina’s reputation is in need of a boost, include her creation of a National Bush Summit — sorry, we mean, sponsoring the National Bush Summit and then billing herself as the star attraction of this, dare we say, "bush week".

This forum was used to publicise Gina's collection of sage advice on:

why renewables are the eighth deadly sin;
the importance of increased defence spending to keep out the hordes of migrants paddling to our shores;
why everyone who earns over say, $40 billion or so should not have to pay tax; and
how everybody loves Gina Rinehart, except for a few Dirty Woke Lefties.

All these things have been brought to our attention from the many subtle ways in which they have been conveyed in the establishment media in recent days, such as:

‘Teach the kids mining’ ~ Herald Sun
[Gina will even generously provide the pickaxes and shovels.]

'Fossil fuel approach "foolhardy": Gina Rinehart to tell Bush Summit' ~ The Australian
[Because renewables are the eighth deadly sin, as explained above.]

'Rinehart warns of funds exodus' ~ The Australian

[Unless we open as many new fossil fuel mines as possible and throw in a few nuclear reactors for good measure, obviously.]

‘Gina Rinehart unloads in an explosive speech exposing the huge problems with Australia - as she warns the country is on a downward spiral’ ~ Daily Mail

The latter article, outlined Gina’s passionate calls for the Government to 'drill, baby, drill and dig, baby, dig', in order to (among other things) pay for an iron dome missile defence system à la Israel. No, really.

As well as gifting us all with her heartfelt philosophies, Gina’s most significant achievements include the swift end to the carbon tax along with the Government that tried to implement it, as well as the subsequent decade of inaction on climate change.

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And apart from buying media exposure and sporting teams, chief among her most notable acquisitions – in no particular order – are Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Peter Dutton.

This week, Australia’s most vulnerable citizens and Ms Reinhart's favourite scapegoats – second only to Dirty Woke Lefties – are set to receive an increase in JobSeeker payments.

That’s right, break out that bargain bin sparkling wine — payments will be increased by $28.10 a fortnight for singles and $21.20 a fortnight for couples!

But of course, if we just keep "drilling and digging", preferably for $2 per day and without socialising, Gina might throw even more sparkling galas for her closest friends, complete with diamond-encrusted gowns and politicians aplenty, or buy a few more sporting teams.

No discussion of Gina Rinehart, (yet another mad hatter billionaire), would be complete without the magnificent Magda Szubanski's ode to Gina Minehart.

To all the athletes Rinehart has compromised with her billions, she is the ultimate example of how money corrupts!!#Auspol pic.twitter.com/FqZ7h5taaD
— ☮️💧 Sleeping Giants Oz 📣 (@slpng_giants_oz) August 24, 2024