Article by Tom Zaunmayr, courtesy of Business News.
Gina Rinehart wants an Israel-style iron dome and other high-tech defences protecting the Pilbara’s multi-billion-dollar resources assets from foreign attacks.
Speaking at The Australian’s Bush Summit in Port Hedland on Friday, Australia’s richest person lamented the nation’s lean down what she described as the “down path”, and that opposition leader Peter Dutton could shift the nation toward the “up path”.
Among major policy matters, Mrs Rinehart canvassed was the protection of the Pilbara’s resource assets with a system similar to that of Israel’s iron dome.
The famous iron dome system was installed in Israel by US firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems in 2011 to protect from missile strikes by Hamas and Hezbollah militants.
Rockets for the iron dome cost about $US60,000 each, while each battery reportedly costs $50 million.
Mrs Rinehart said that system should also be rolled out alongside other modern warfare apparatus deployed on the warfront between Ukraine and Russia.
“It is no good having the resources in the Pilbara unless we can ship it out,” she said.
“Hence we should have defence to keep our railways and ports open, and defend our sea lanes.
“Surrounding this vital Pilbara engine we should have the protective iron dome like the one in Israel, and war drones, and smart sea mines.”
Defence of sea lanes was also critical, Mrs Rinehart said, to guarantee passage of fuel into Australia, where reserves are low.
She said cutting red tape to allow miners to expand their operations would help to fund such expensive endeavours.
Her comments came amid a half-hour speech laden with the usual grab-bag of issues: cutting myriad taxes, letting miners mine, supporting farmers and pastoralists, deriding renewables, and calling on government to stop meddling in lives.
Starting her speech lightly with “hello dear Pilbarites” and welcoming those who had come over from a pink fundraising breakfast in town that morning, the Hancock Prospecting owner quickly turned to listing the vast sums of money coming from the Pilbara that support the nation.
Mrs Rinehart specifically singled out Fringe Benefits Tax as damaging to northern Australia and called on the federal government to increase the zonal tax offset to ease the cost of living for people north of the 26th parallel.
Payroll tax, stamp duty, fuel excise, and licence fees were also in her sights
She urged more people from primary industries to run for parliament and hailed BHP and Rio Tinto for their massive investments in Western Australian industry and communities.
That investment, Mrs Rinehart said, had “lifted WA from being a mendicant state … to one that instead helps to support other states.”
But she raised concern BHP and Rio were investing in risky jurisdictions elsewhere, asking the crowd to ponder why that was the case.
She said Canada “had rolled out the red carpet” for miners “even under socialist [Justin] Trudeau” and that this would only increase further should the Canadian opposition win government.
