Gina Rinehart is in the United States to support Donald Trump in the race for the White House and is expected to attend his election dinner tonight.
“I’m still nervous, but I’m really hoping for a Trump win,” Ms. Rinehart said The Australian last week.
She warned that if Kamala Harris won the election, she would be “more socialist and evil than (Joe) Biden.”
She said Trump described Trump as “patriotic and courageous” and said he was a model for other world leaders.
If Trump comes to power later this year, the former president wants to reduce the US’s dependence on income taxes – and make up for the shortfall with higher import tariffs.
He proposes a 60 percent tariff on all Chinese goods, and a 10 percent tariff on all US imports worth $3 trillion.
Ms. Rinehart, who opposes tariffs, said she believed this was a negotiating position and that Mr. Trump would not impose such blanket measures but would take it on a country-by-country basis.
However, the Australian mining magnate fully supports Trump’s other policies.
“He understands that if you put in place policies that welcome investment, like less government taxes, less taxes, you get a return on investment, you bring growth and you raise living standards,” Ms. Rinehart said.
Gina Rinehart is in the United States to support Donald Trump in the race for the White House and is expected to attend his election party tonight. Pictured together in 2019
Ms Rinehart’s company, Hancock Prospecting, announced last week it would buy the Lockyer/North Erregulla Conventional Gas Project in Western Australia’s mid-west Perth Basin as part of a $1.1 billion deal with the previous owner MinRes.
Ms Rinehart told Daily Mail Australia that these types of projects are crucial to Australia’s future because ‘so-called renewable energy’ can only generate electricity 10 to 25 per cent of the time for solar and up to a third of the time for wind energy.
“Gas can produce electricity much more reliably, even when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing,” she said.
‘Every rational observer recognizes the need for more gas supply.’
She labeled renewables as “so-called” because she stated that they were “actually more mineral-intensive than fossil fuels, and those minerals have to be constantly found and developed, they don’t renew themselves every year.”
Ms. Rinehart warned that if Kamala Harris won the election, she would be “more socialist and evil than (Joe) Biden.”
She said the “old but true laws of supply and demand cannot be changed” with Australia hungry for more and more gas as its share of electricity generation grows.
“Without additional supply, prices will rise, hurting consumers and businesses who need gas as a reliable source of energy and baseload electricity generation,” Ms Rinehart said.
Ms. Rinehart said the federal government is driving investors away from natural resource projects, including gas.
“Reducing unnecessarily complex and duplicative tape and redundant regulations can stimulate investment,” she said.
She warned that many Australians overlook the fact that their high living standards are largely supported by the country’s resource exports.
“If people start having blackouts and brownouts, which I do see on the horizon, because we’re closing or not maintaining so many of our power plants, they’ll understand.
“Nuclear is great, but let’s face it: it will take a long time, it will require a lot of withdrawals and approvals.”