Article courtesy of the Daily Telegraph.
Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart has unleashed on Australia’s “woke” education system, called for tax cuts and linked immigration to the nation’s worsening housing crisis.
Australia’s richest person made the strong comments during a 16-minute speech in defence of the mining industry at the Herald Sun’s annual Bush Summit in Bendigo, Victoria, on Monday.
Ms Rinehart, who is worth an estimated $40 billion, claimed children were “no longer taught to be proud of our country” and called on the government to overhaul the curriculum.
“Even for those (kids) as young as those in preschools, (they) are being taught our police are bad, plastics, essential in hospitals, are bad,” she said.
“They and others in school classes are no longer taught to be proud of our country, quite the opposite.”
She claimed students were being taught “propaganda rather than facts and woke causes instead of understanding, rationale and logic.”
“They are taught that it is wrong to say there are two genders, indeed, even being told off if they say that.”
The mining magnate said primary industries were being ignored in schools.
“Can we believe that in the entire high school economics and business curriculum, mining, coal and iron ore do not receive even a single mention?
“Our schoolchildren don’t learn what underpins so much of our economy, so many of our businesses, indeed our living standards.”
Ms Rinehart said it was important to remember the mining industry – which she dubbed the “engine room of Australia” – provided billions in tax revenue every year to fund crucial public services.
“It seems it is too easy for some to forget that every aspect of our lives is touched by either the mining or the agriculture industry.
“Everything either has to be grown or mined, be it the food on our tables, the energy used to refrigerate or cook it, or the utensils used to eat it.”
Ms Rinehart also took issue with Australia’s immigration levels, claiming an influx of foreigners was “causing many disadvantages”.
“Let’s not forget the approximately one million migrants this government has brought in, resulting in only approximately 40,000 added to the workforce,’ she said.
She continued by claiming record immigration was “adding to our housing crisis, increasing the cost of rentals” and “straining police with more crime”.
Ms Rinehart, who also has a huge agricultural portfolio through her company Hancock Prospecting, said she was sick of empty promises.
“If only our governments would truly consider the farmers … instead of nice sounding words. We don’t want empty words,” she said.
“We want to know taxes that were to be dropped when GST came in, payroll, licence fees and stamp tax will be dropped’.
“Wouldn’t that help the cost of living?”
