Article by Geordi Offord courtesy of the Courier mail.
Hancock Prospecting executive chair Gina Rinehart says the costs to agriculture of achieving net-zero targets has the potential to increase food prices at the supermarket and force farming families off their land.
Ms Rinehart, in her keynote speech at The Courier-Mail Bush Summit, also sounded the alarm on red tape associated with mining which she said could take “decades” to navigate.
The cost of changing over to electric vehicles on farms would be too great, Ms Rinehart said, using her Western Australian property Fossil Downs as an example.
“The cost to change to EVs for an average station like… Fossil Downs would be a staggering $10.4m to $11.4m,” Ms Rinehart said.
“This is a very big issue.
“(Farmers could be) forced off their land, land they and their families love.”
Ms Rinehart also questioned what would happen to food prices and availability.
“What will happen to the availability of fresh food… what will happen to food prices?” she said. “Prices will inevitably rise.
“How will those on low and low-to-middle incomes, already in difficulty with the rising cost of living with more rising costs to follow as we continue to embark towards net-zero, be able to eat?”
Ms Rinehart said the government should commit to those in agriculture not needing “to invest more than say $200k on the government’s net-zero policies”.
She also hit out at red tape for mining.
“We are talking decades to get through government approvals now for big mines. We have just got to bring some reality into this emotional discussion,” Ms Rinehart said.
Ms Rinehart presented a slide show of points on opportunities to “cut red tape” on mining in Queensland.
