Farmers can’t afford net zero, says Rinehart
Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, says farmers and the agriculture sector cannot afford the transition to net zero and governments should step in to cover most of the costs.
Speaking at a bush summit in Western Australia sponsored by her company, Hancock Prospecting, Mrs Rinehart also took aim at the media for its coverage of her recent court battle with her family, saying she had a “very close” relationship with her father Lang Hancock before he died in 1992.
Australia’s richest person, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, wants governments to cut taxes and red tape and to help farmers pay for net zero policies. Trevor Collens
Delivering a list of action points to delegates, including cutting red tape and taxes plus setting up a special economic zone in northern Australia, Mrs Rinehart said farmers should pay no more than $200,000 each to electrify their farm equipment and install solar panels.
“You actually have to add up the expense of these net zero policies on farmers,” she told the summit organised by The Australian newspaper.
“Just look at requiring electric vehicles alone, be that for lawn mowers, motorbikes, utes, 4WDs, tractors, harvesters, trucks, bulldozers, graders, front-end loaders and more.
“It’s going to cost a fortune that farmers and pastoralists don’t have, without a mining company in their back pocket. They just don’t have this money to be able to invest.”
Mrs Rinehart, an AFR Rich Lister with a personal net worth of $37.4 billion, said the high costs of net zero policies could force farmers off the land, pushing up the price of produce in supermarkets and leading to chronic food shortages.
“I’m suggesting those in agriculture don’t need to spend more than $200,000 of their own money on net zero
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