Today, on November 22nd, people travelled from all over Australia, to come together in outback Australia to celebrate National Mining and Related Industries Day. The gala event was held at Santos’s Moomba gas field in South Australia. This day was founded by Mrs Gina Rinehart AO who received federal government approval to hold the National Mining Day.
The plant, where the event was held, is located in South Australia’s Cooper Basin, and plays a pivotal role in securing Australia’s energy needs, producing natural gas that fuels our homes, industries, and has done so for more than five decades.
The day featured private charter flights from Adelaide to carry the hundreds of guests to Moomba, with speeches along the way by Garry Korte, CEO HPPL, Gerhard Veldsman CEO Hancock Operations, Stuart Johnson, CEO Hancock Energy, Sanjiv Manchanda, CEO Projects, the Hon Keith Pitt, Senator Matt Canavan, the Hon Barnaby Joyce, Senator Pauline Hanson, Professor Ian Plimer, Scott Hargreaves and Daniel Wild from the IPA and others.
After the passengers disembarked, Santos conducted a tour of the gas plant.
The evening featured speeches from Mrs Gina Rinehart AO, Mr. Tad Watroba, Patron of National Mining Day, Gerhard Veldsman, along with video address from the Hon Peter Dutton and Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher.
Mrs Rinehart recounted the famous book, “River of Tears”, saying it had a useful message for today, regarding the idea, let’s appease the crocodile in order for the crocodile to eat us last. She said, yes, the book referred to the crocodile being the government, and corporations trying to appease the government. She said she sure hoped the corporates were beginning to understand the reality, that the left and left elites were no real friend of the corporates.
Mrs Rinehart also referred to Australia’s declining international attractiveness for investment, particularly given President-elect Trump’s serious commitment to not only cut tape, but to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%, half of Australia’s rate of 30%.
“Just consider the USA on one hand, bringing in doge to ensure tape and government wastage cut, enabling the tax cuts, plus a “drill baby drill” President for achieving greater revenue and reliable energy, as against Australia, well our company tax rate is double that, so far the Coalition governments have brought in more government tape and regulations than the socialist Whitlam government ever had. Commitment and action to significantly cut is badly needed, not LINO words, without real commitment, capital is already flooding out of Australia, hence we need to act fast.”
After dining on scrumptious 2GR Wagyu carpaccio and Chef Raf’s award winning 2GR brisket, and south Australian wines, guests danced to a live performance by Guy Sebastian.
National Mining and Related Industries Day is also a call to action – a reminder that we must speak up for our essential industry. Especially those earning their living from the fossil fuels industry, an industry the government plans to end.
Let’s continue to champion our industry. Today, we celebrate not just mining, but all that it brings to our great nation.
Speeches and videos will follow.
Good evening distinguished guests and friends. And a very warm welcome to National Mining Day to our terrific host Santos, and everyone present who works in our essential resources industry, and in that I include all related businesses.
Thank you to the team at Santos for so warmly welcoming us all to Moomba.
The platform we are on was especially built for us by Santos to be able to see their gas plants throughout our gala dinner.
And, Santos even improved their roads for our pre dining tour. The flowers on our tables are in beautiful Santos colours! Big thanks.
And of course, huge thanks too to our wonderful sponsors.
Great to be with you all for our National Day. Shouldn’t we really have a national month or two, given our industry’s contribution?!
Santos and Hancock are almost the same age, well, I’m actually the oldest of the lot!
Santos was incorporated in March 1954 a month after my birth! Whilst Hancock was founded only a year or so later in November 1955. Happy 70th Birthday Santos!
You certainly have contributed immensely to our country. Thank you.
And don’t you just love the saying, “drill baby drill”?
Essential for getting gas to supply homes and industry around Australia. Well maybe it’s just a little timid whisper out here in Australia now, as it’s getting so darned hard to “drill baby drill!”
And our government wants to see the end of the fossil fuel industry. We’ll soon hear from CEO Kevin of Santos. Isn’t it timely we hold National Mining Day where gas has been produced and supplied reliably to Australians for more than 50 years.
These days some like to claim that our country can run on sunshine and windmills.
By all means put these on your own properties if you wish, but stop forcing this on us taxpayers, when the wind doesn’t always blow, and the sun doesn’t always make it to solar panels!
Natural gas provides the stability required for sectors where energy unreliability isn’t an option!
Those who don’t want to use gas, or other fossil fuels, let them choose not to use, so long as they dispose safely the toxic solar panels.
But please, don’t make us taxpayers pay for more pollies’, bureaucrats’ and billionaires’ luxurious gabfests around the world in aid of banning fossil fuels.
This expensive net zero cult sure likes to use lots of fossil fuels for their many many trips, including using hundreds of private jets.
Does anyone here want the taxpayers to keep funding these trips, please stand up.
Nobody.
Hancock has been investing in natural gas for the past few years. Our investment alongside our Korean partner POSCO in Senex Energy – where despite the challenges of the delay of ill thought and damaging government intervention we’ve managed to jointly invest a further $1 billion to triple Senex’s production from 2022 production levels.
My executives and I will be attending the opening of Senex’s latest facility after our national day, because people in the east need this gas.
Those who want reliable energy, please make the time to advocate for sensible policies that encourage additional supply, and cutting those that don’t.
Price control, like rent control, plus approvals delays, the wrongly named nature positive plan, we thought this had died its natural not positive for Australians death, well it will be the death of the Labor party at the next election, if the ALP is foolish enough to pass this, and market interference, doesn’t encourage more supply.
Without more supply prices will rise, impacting consumers already suffering from the cost of living crisis and businesses that rely on natural gas.
And, many struggling businesses who can’t afford more expense, or unreliability.
But CEO Kevin, who really knows gas, will be speaking to you tonight, so I’ll handover his subject to him.
22 November is an important date in our national calendar. It is an opportunity to celebrate everything that our mining and related industries provide to our country and our living standards, and indeed provide to our allies too.
We do try hard to make our national day celebrations an occasion you look forward to.
It’s a time to focus on mining, because when mining doesn’t do well, nor do Australians.
Recently published data from the Tax Office shows that the mining sector has, for the second year in a row, paid more tax than all other sectors of the economy combined! $43.1 billion.
On top of this, according to the MCA, the mining sector provided a further $31.5 billion in royalties.
On top of all this comes more billions in personal income tax, payroll taxes and other fees. I repeat, shouldn’t we have more than one national day?
But what does $74.6 billion in just two of the tax payments actually mean in dollars for Australians?
To put in perspective, those $74.6 billion alone without all the other billions, is enough to pay for our entire defence budget. Plus all the federal expenditure on schools. Plus all federal expenditure on roads. And leaving some change to spare.
After a significant increase in health expenditure, Australian taxpayers spend almost $200 million each and every day to run our public hospitals, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
The mining industry’s tax and royalty contribution alone is worth over $205 million per day.
Australia has some of the highest living standards the world has ever seen.
This took massive levels of investment, construction of mega projects, and the work of hundreds of thousands of people employed across our resources sector.
We have been reaping the rewards of investments made into our mining and related industries over decades.
Can we take this success for granted?
We have now seen for the last six consecutive quarters our living standards, measured in GDP per capita, falling.
This is the longest-running decline in our national living standards on record.
Record business failures, record and rising national debt, rising inflation and our cost of living crisis.
This is not a time for LINOs, timidly fiddling around a few edges, careful not to upset the minority noisies or rapidly increasing bureaucrats, none of whom will ever vote for the Coalition, we need make Australia great again. Don’t we!
Just consider the USA on one hand, bringing in doge to ensure tape cut, and company taxes soon to be 15 percent, plus a “drill baby drill” President, as against Australia, well our company tax rate is double that, so far the Coalition has brought in more government tape and regulations than the socialist Whitlam government ever had, commitment and action to significantly cut is badly needed, not LINO words, capital is already flooding out of Australia, hence we need to act fast.
Where are these mammoth investments in Australia being made today?
Where is the next Roy Hill that is going to pay high wages and contribute billions in taxes and royalties to state and federal governments?
But what has happened to this $29 billion gas project for our north, when the Minister later stated she wouldn’t delay the project to protect a dangerous grey sea snake, a snake capable of killing us. Months have passed and the approval process continues.
As the federal budget acknowledges, mining investment “primarily reflects expenditure to maintain existing resource production capacity”.
When you subtract from this level of ‘investment’ amounts that companies are having to spend on green infrastructure, in order to meet the increased green ideology burdens, along with amounts driven by inflated construction costs which the CME have recently stated have increased by some 23 per cent over the past four years, the actual amount of money flowing into building productive new mining projects in Australia, ones which could supply future revenue, is critically low.
Further, The MCA has warned that 80 percent of the projects in the major resources project pipeline are simply not likely to proceed.
It’s no longer a pipeline of nation-building and wealth-enabling resources projects, but primarily a list of casualties of excessive government tape and ideological policies.
This should be a wakeup call. The siren alarm has gone off.
Casualties include an almost ready to go gold project, McPhillamys.
Yes, our government has made a choice to make it much harder to develop resources projects essential to maintain our living standards.
Even in resource Rich west Australia, the Fraser institute index has shown West Australia has fallen from 4th place to 17th place last year.
This is not the time for LINOs. If we want this to change, it is the time for leadership with courage.
Let’s not be frightened to learn from the success of President-elect Donald Trump.
This President elect surrounds himself with people who already are an outstanding success, so that he can deliver, make America great again!
So, what should we do?
As I have repeatedly stated, we need to cut government tape, regulations, governments wastage and tax burdens across Australia.
We need a USA style DOGE that delivers action, one that helps to return dollars to our pockets and investment back to Australia.
Don’t be frightened to call for “make our bank accounts great again!”
We need governments to reduce the number of approvals required for projects.
The first to go should be the federal departments which repeat what the state departments already do. Lessening the complexity, delays and expense of both state and federal departments.
We need to return to reliable and cheaper energy.
Stop taxpayer funding of unreliable green energy and its incredibly expensive infrastructure.
Let businesses decide if they want to invest in green without being forced to do.
We need a return to the “up” path that I have spoken about.
The “up” path means implementing policies that see our investment, opportunities and living standards go up.
At the moment, unfortunately, our governments are sending us on the “down” path.
We see this with less productive investment, declining living standards over six consecutive quarters, record business failures, increased inflation.
Is this what the majority of Australians want?
We should be watching and learning from the recent announcement now showing on screen, great words aren’t they, following President-elect Trump’s tsunami victory that he will be establishing a Department of Government Efficiency.
With Elon Musk and fellow billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy leading the charge, they will achieve significantly cutting tape (yes significantly cutting, not the LINO preferred word streamlining when even the chair of ASIC has recently said, there is too much tape to cope with.
DOGE will cut government intrusion, cut government waste, and enable President-elect Trump to cut taxes.
To enable tax cuts here in Aussie we need to cut government expenditure and waste.
Out with the failed approach, that being let’s get the bureaucracy-friendly Treasury to cost tax cuts.
Treasury don’t want to cut bureaucracy or recognise that cutting taxes leads to revenue growth, who then advise “we can’t afford.”
Instead let’s decide to cut the government waste, then we can afford.
If we truly wanted to consider the terrible pressure the rising cost of living is causing many Australians, drop the excise tax on fuel completely and immediately.
This would have a positive impact for families at not only the petrol pump, but on all their goods and services that require transportation, and or fuel for production.
Cut out the duplicated federal departments, have the courage to sell the ABC radio, and close the ABC TV like the opposition leader in Canada, Pierre, has announced he will do, cut out expenditure on the Environmental Defenders Office, sell the pot plants and artifacts from all the departments and agencies offices (let them bring in their own), these are just some of many opportunities to cut expenditure and wastage to make way for tax cuts!
We all know what happens when government tape and tax is cut, but strangely that Canberra cocoon doesn’t. Please remind them, often.
We saw this under the last Trump administration, we saw it under President Reagan, they massively cut tape and taxes, and Americans flourished.
Let’s remind our Aussie politicians, and try to persuade the LINOs, that governments do not create wealth, they only consume it, and that if they want to see higher investment, higher living standards, higher wages, more jobs, new technologies and innovation, more businesses basing themselves in Australia and creating jobs and paying taxes, more to treasury! we need to massively cut the onerous burdens that government places on businesses.
Last National Mining Day when we were at Roy together, I showed videos from Elon Musk, Canadian Leader of the Opposition, Pierre, and our great former Governor General, General The Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove, all outstanding brave leaders.
This year I’d like to leave you with a quote from another brave outstanding leader, the President of Argentina, Milei, quote: “The collectivism and moral posturing of the woke agenda have collided with reality and no longer have credible solutions to offer to the actual problems of the world.”
The Americans and Argentinian’s have recognised the reality of this and voted.
Thank you once again for joining us to celebrate our important National Day, and again thank you to our wonderful sponsors.
Thank you to all our fantastic speakers in buses and both enroute to Moomba and later on return. I hope you all enjoy our time together here at Santos.
Who’s heard of the book “The River of Tears”? Famous book, with a useful message today, let’s appease the crocodile in the hope it devours us last. Yes, the crocodile refers to the government. I sure hope corporates are beginning to understand this reality.
And please never forget, we all need to stand up, make our voices heard, and deliver the message to our governments that they have got us on the “down” path with their current policies.
Let’s help deliver the “up” path!
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas.
Thank you.
