Article by Mark Ludlow courtesy of the Australian Financial Review.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart says Australia needs to develop more mines if it wants to maintain its standard of living, warning of a $60 billion investment shortfall in the resources sector.
Delivering a rare public speech at the Queensland Resources Media Club in Brisbane yesterday, Ms Rinehart said the miningr sector was responsible for helping Treasurer Jim Chalmers deliver the first surplus in 15 years.
She also took aim at the federal government’s delayed approval process for new mines, as well as mooted industrial relations reform.
“Our company and industry is exciting, isn’t it? But then we have the [federal] government,” she told the lunch yesterday. “If we want our standards of living to continue we simply must have more investment in mines and more mines developed.
“And for that, we need to do far more to ensure our government much better understands and puts policies in place that actually welcomes and not deters investment.”
Ms Rinehart, Australia’s richest person with an estimated wealth of $36.7 billion, said it took more than 16 years to get a mining project off the ground.
“That was at 2019. Things are far worse in Australia now, with more and more unattractive-to-investment legislation and more and more red tape making approvals burdensome and time-consuming and risky,” she said.
Three former federal resources ministers attended the lunch, including Keith Pitt, Matt Canavan and Ian Macfarlane, who is now chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council.
Ms Rinehart, who has a major investment in Queensland-based gas company Senex, also took aim at the Albanese government over its gas market intervention, saying it was sending investment overseas.
“Why create such an unattractive investment environment when we need gas,” she said.
She said over-regulation across the mining sector had whittled mining investment down to $40 billion, creating a $60 billion investment gap that would damage Australia’s economic future.
“This will have huge consequences for our country,” she said. “We are simply not seeing the massive investment given how high commodity prices are.”
She urged the lunch attendees to spend 15 minutes each day to “sell the mining industry” to the general public.