9 September 2013
Alex Heber
Australian Mining
Iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart has weighed into the post election commentary saying the coalition needs to fix Australia’s economic issues.
Rinehart made an unexpected appearance at National party member Barnaby Joyce’s election party in the NSW seat of New England on Saturday night.
“We really do need people investing in this country so there are more opportunities and we can pay back our debt,” she told the ABC.
“You know, we’ve got a working population that’s decreasing, we’ve got an ageing population that’s increasing [so] where is the money going to come from for our essential services unless we start looking at these problems head on?” Rinehart said she is confident the coalition will steer Australia’s economy in the right direction.
“I was invited and I’m really happy to be here [because] Australia does need to see a government in that’s a bit more inclined to recognise we’re in record debt,” she said.
“We got rid of our Future Fund, our Infrastructure Fund and we need to do something to make investment possible in this country.” Joyce said Australia needs more entrepreneurs like Rinehart.
“Gina is a great friend and I’m a good mate of Gina’s and she’s got an Australian company which employs Australian people which pays tax in this nation and I’m so proud,” he said.
“We need lots of Gina Rineharts, not one, [because] when we have a nation of lots of them we’re going to be a stronger nation.” In May the iron ore mogul condemned the Labor government’s reliance on the mining sector, claiming the industry has been used like “an ATM”.
Rinehart at the time credited the sector for propping the country up, saying it is the reason Australia has not spiralled into the debt of the same severity as Greece.
“Without mining and its related industry this country has no hope of repaying our record debt,” Rinehart said.
“It needs to keep reminding Australians this – that without mining and its related industries this country has no hope of repaying our record debt without facing the problems Greece and other countries faced with overspending and consequent debt traumas.” In her May address Rinehart called for realism saying: “Let’s not be too proud to admit that we’re really just a large island with a small population with record debt”.
Courtesy of Australian Mining