Originally published by The Guardian
20.04.2026
Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, has weighed in on the fuel crisis, blaming the country’s dependence on imports in part on the Coalition.
The comments follow Rinehart distancing herself from the Liberals and Nationals as she backs the smaller rightwing party One Nation.
Rinehart said Australia’s dependence on imports for its fuel needs demonstrated the failures of the Coalition as well as Labor governments. She told a Hancock Iron Ore event on Friday night:
Australia was previously around 96% fuel sufficient. Excessive tape, excessive approvals, be that Labor or Coalition, the Paris Agreement, the unreliable, expensive net zero we cannot afford, has changed this …
This is not the petrol stations’ fault. It is not even the recent Iran war. It is successive governments who have caused us to become around 96% dependent on overseas fuel and have not even spent the money we should have on creating fuel reserves, as stipulated by the International Energy Agency.
Excess bureaucracy not familiar with industry, ideological policies, weak governments and green fantasies driven by those who don’t want to understand this deters [mining] investment …
The irresponsible policies of both Labor and the Coalition increasingly against our industry is seeing investors increasingly focus their investments overseas, decisions which affect Australians future and our already record debt.
