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Australia’s richest person has called on the federal government to give the nation a “Christmas bonus” in the form of a petrol excise tax cut to deal with spiralling costs, as “woke agendas” threaten Aussie living standards. “Every few dollars counts for people in tough times,” Mrs Rinehart told The Daily Telegraph. “With the stroke of a pen, the government could deliver minor short-term relief to millions by cutting the petrol tax for households.

Australians should receive a “much-needed” Christmas bonus from the Federal Government, in the form of another fuel excise cut for December, mining billionaire Gina Rinehart believes. Speaking out after hearing about the impact of cost-of-living rises from West Australians at the National Agriculture and Related Industries Day, Mrs Rinehart said halving the 44.2¢ a litre excise would provide relief. Former prime minister Scott Morrison’s government halved the fuel excise to 22.1¢ a litre in March last year, offering six months of cost-of-living relief to drivers.

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has earned some high praise after making some big calls on what the government can do to help Aussies out with the rising cost of living and dealing with noisy public activism.

Australia's richest woman has called on the government to give the nation a "Christmas bonus" in the form of a petrol tax excise cut at a time when people are struggling to deal with spiralling costs and said the "woke" agenda threatened living standards. "Every few dollars counts for people in tough times," Mrs Rinehart told The Advertiser in an exclusive interview.

Gina Rinehart has issued a grim warning that Aussies face huge price hikes and fresh food shortages unless the burden of climate change policies are lifted from farmers. During an address in Bali on Tuesday, the mining magnate made the ominous forecast to mark National Agriculture & Related Industries Day, of which Mrs Rinehart is the founding patron. Australia's richest person, who owns millions of farming hectares, said governments need to cap what agriculturalists spend on achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions to $200,000 - or the entire nation faces dire consequences.

Mrs Rinehart said governments "seem to forget" that "modern resources and agricultural industries underpin human flourishing", while reigniting her push for the Federal Government to mark two days in November as national days for the two sectors. "For all the platitudes we hear about supporting the agricultural and resources sectors, their actions show the opposite," she said of governments. "Platitudes and press releases don’t lift a single tonne of any mineral out of the ground." Mrs Rinehart said the growing burden of red tape - including looming "huge increases" to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act — and increasing regulation around net zero emissions, were evidence that government actions defied their supposed support for the sector.

Australia has long been a nation of primary producers, of farmers and miners who go out into regional and outback areas and contend with whatever nature may throw at them to provide the food, fibre and raw materials that we need to survive and thrive. We have cultivated agriculture that feeds and clothes Australians and tens of millions of people around the world. And we have taken risks and developed the minerals that have enabled higher living standards across Australia and the world. Thanks to our primary industries and the many businesses they support, we live in one of the wealthiest countries that has ever existed, and Australians today have among the highest standards of living ever experienced by human beings.

17 November 2023.

Beach Energy interim chair Ryan Stokes has warned Australia’s energy transition is at risk of failure as an ambiguous and complex environmental approvals process adds to growing domestic supply constraints. Mr Stokes said gas projects were experiencing extensive and costly delays in the environment approvals process. “According to the regulator, only five applications have received approval in the last 12 months and there are over 40 applications under review,” he told the company’s annual meeting on Tuesday. “A process that may have previously taken months is now taking close to two years.

Nearly half of Australia’s business leaders say long environmental approvals are a big risk to the country’s ambitions to cut emissions, adding to growing alarm about green tape tying up projects. A total of 47 per cent of respondents were concerned about the approvals, while only 37 per cent of the corporate decision-makers surveyed felt Australia could hit the crucial net zero by 2050 target. It is the latest warning signal to emerge in an escalating battle over regulations — delaying projects across the country.