Latest News
Catch up on the latest news and insights from Atlas.
Roy Hill sets up chatbot to help lift productivity
West Australian mining company Roy Hill has developed its own internal chatbot to give its employees better insights about the company’s functions and to increase their personal productivity. The program was developed after executive chairman Gina Rinehart put out a challenge 18 months ago for the leaders of WA mining companies to use AI to help increase productivity. “The system is designed to respond to a broad spectrum of inquiries related to production data, company policies and procedures, as well as general HR information,” Roy Hill said in a statement. “Roy Hill’s employees interact with RoyBot using natural language, asking questions through the internal web application.”
Read more
Bush Summit: Wind farms facing revolt from farmers
Governments and wind farm developers could face stiff opposition from farmers amid growing concern that large-scale projects could change the landscape for the worse, former Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles says. Mr Giles – now the chief executive of Gina Rinehart’s two key farming businesses, Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman and Co – told The Australian’s Bush Summit in Perth on Monday that the transition to net zero was being felt as a “blunt instrument” in regional Australia.
Read more
Most farmers ‘cannot afford net zero’: Gina Rinehart
Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has addressed The Australian Bush Summit in Perth, saying that most farmers are unable to afford net zero. “With the consequences, Aussies and the towns will see huge food price increases and fresh food shortages, this is the maths that has to be brought in too,” Ms Rinehart said. “There’s quite a bit of government tape that would make life better if removed.”
Read more
Bush Summit live: Mrs Gina Rinehart AO
Reporting of key elements of Mrs Gina Rinehart AO addressing the 2023 Bush Summit.
Read more
Bush Summit can bring policy energy | Gina Rinehart AO | The Australian
News Corp’s Bush Summit presents a welcome and much-needed opportunity to bring about focus on all the good things, the challenges and the opportunities that encompass regional Australia. With my family’s pioneering and agricultural background in regional and remote Australia going back to the mid-1800s in the Pilbara and back even before that, and more recently in mining, I’ve had the opportunity to share a very special history and many experiences in the Australian outback. It’s time to call for better policies for those who work and live in our bush. No longer do we want pollies to visit and say they love and appreciate us, but then deliver legislation that promises more hardships for us.
Read more
Swimming world champ Kaylee McKeown reveals why she wouldn’t be in the sport if it wasn’t for Gina Rinehart – and opens up on her clash with teammate Cate Campbell
McKeown, 22, won the women's 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke at the recent World Championships in Japan - and acknowledged that without funding from Rinehart, her glittering career in the pool would never have happened. 'She [Rinehart] is my life support, without her funding many of us wouldn't be in the sport,' McKeown told 2GB radio's Ben Fordham on Friday'Swimmers need sponsorship, and Ms Rinehart has supported me since I was 16. Fordham also revealed Rinehart personally funds 75 swimmers and 50 rowers - and over the past decade has provided $60million for Aussie Olympic athletes.
Read more
Hancock integrates project plans
GINA Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting has been quietly implementing changes this year that will reshape the way it operates. One key development was the acquisition of properties in West Perth so that staff at subsidiaries Roy Hill Holdings and Atlas Iron can be co-located with the parent company. Another key development was the creation of HanRoy, a new entity to coordinate the evaluation of all projects. Led by chief executive group projects Sanjiv Manchanda, HanRoy is currently working on more than half a dozen mining and infrastructure projects. At the same time, Gerhard Veldsman was put in charge of all mining operations, with both men reporting to Hancock chief executive Garry Korte.
Read more
Gina Rinehart donates $16 million to boost healthcare for rural Australians
Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern Section) Chief Executive Officer Greg Sam said the $4 million boost for NSW comes at a “challenging” time in its history as the RFDS had played a critical role delivering essential healthcare and more than 32,000 Covid vaccinations to remote and vulnerable communities during the pandemic“. Since then, the RFDS has continued to deliver high quality care to rural and remote NSW communities, whilst navigating increasingly difficult economic conditions and rising costs,” Mr Sam said.The $4 million donation in Queensland will contribute to the fit-out of a new Beechcraft King Air 360 aircraft and operations at its Brisbane base which is about to be redeveloped. The Rinehart Medical Foundation also provided a critical $6 million donation to the RFDS at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. The contribution follows Mrs Rinehart’s $5 million gift last week to the Sydney Childrens’ Hospitals Foundation.
Read more
Rinehart digs in for charity
Healthcare for Australians living in rural and remote areas will be given a $16m lift thanks to donations to the Royal Flying Doctors from Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart. The Rinehart Medical Foundation and Hancock Prospecting will provide major cash injections to the NSW, Queensland and Western Australian sectors of the 95-year-old organisation which relies on donations to fund a third of the healthcare it provides. Royal Flying Doctor Service (South Eastern Section) Chief Executive Officer Greg Sam said the $4m boost for NSW comes at a "challenging" time in its history as the RFDS had played a critical role delivering essential healthcare and more than 32,000 Covid vaccinations to remote and vulnerable communities during the pandemic.
Read more
Rinehart in $16m boost to Flying Doctor
Health care for Australians living in rural and remote areas will be given a $16m lift thanks to donations to the Royal Flying Doctor from Australia's richest person, Gina Rinehart. The Rinehart Medical Foundation and Hancock Prospecting will give major cash boosts to the Queensland, NSW and WA sectors of the 95-year-old organisation, which relies on donations to fund a third of the health care it provides. "The multimillion-dollar gift will help ensure that all Queenslanders - no matter where they live, work and play across the state - can feel safe in knowing that they are connected to the best medical care available." The RFDS said that Mrs Rinehart's family association with the organisation went back to the 1950s when her mother, Hope Hancock, used to host fundraisers at her home.
Read more
Royal Flying Doctor Service in $8M partnership with Rinehart Medical and Roy Hill
Iron ore magnate Gina Rinehart has donated $8 million to the Royal Flying Doctor Service to buy a state-of-the-art aircraft that will help save lives in the most isolated corners of the State. The Rinehart Medical Foundation and Roy Hill will contribute $4 million each to buy and fund an aeromedical fit-out of a PC12 NGX plane in what is one of the most significant donations to the RFDS. Last month, Ms Rinehart was crowned Western Australian on the Year not only for her contribution to WA’s mining and agricultural sectors but for her generosity to various medical and health organisations. RFDS Western Operations chief executive Judith Barker said the organisation had a $90 million program to replace 12 planes by 2030. Ms Barker said the RFDS had a long association with Ms Rinehart and her mother, Hope Hancock. “We’re really grateful for the support that we get from her, Roy Hill and the foundation who recognise that the RFDS is there to support them and their endeavours in rural or remote areas,” she said.
Read more
BHP chief Mike Henry warns the Govt’s IR policy will make Australia less competitive
BHP boss Mike Henry has doubled down on criticism of the Federal Government’s crackdown on labour hire laws, arguing it is taking Australia in the “wrong direction” and will make the country less competitive. “An industrial relations system that delivers productivity, flexibility, and competitiveness to drive job creation and wage growth. Predictability and reduced risk. Under those conditions, the capital will flow,” Mr Henry told the World Mining Conference. “Worryingly, some policies are taking us in the wrong direction and are going to make Australia less competitive: this includes recent and proposed changes to industrial relations legislation, particularly the same job same pay legislation and multi-employer bargaining.”
Read more
WA supercharges the surplus to $19 billion
Strong commodity prices and WA’s powerhouse resources sector have played an “outsized” role in boosting the Federal Government’s coffers, with the Budget surplus ballooning to $19 billion at the end of May. New figures from the Department of Finance show a surge in company and personal tax payments underwriting a stronger than expected result. Receipts from the resources sector was one of the biggest contributors. Mr Albanese argued strong export links would be paramount to ensure unemployment levels remained low. “One in four Australian jobs depend on international trade and that ratio is only going to increase as the economic transformation under way in our region, the fastest growing region of the world in human history, gathers pace,” he told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
Read more
Heritage laws need careful study: Rinehart
Gina Rinehart says adding a granny flat to a large backyard could be held up by contentious Indigenous heritage laws set to come into effect in Western Australia next month. Mrs Rinehart joins critics of the proposal who have described it as "shambolic" and said it would probably hold up new mines and food production. Australia's richest person also hit out at the federal government's plan to boost immigration, saying it had no mandate for the policy and should instead ease restrictions on the hours worked by pensioners and students.
Read more
How one family helped to shape WA | The untold history of Western Australia
The modern history of the Hancocks is well known but earlier generations also had a big impact on our State’s development It is quite a picture. The striking white horses kick up dust as they work in unison to pull the coach through the WA outback. Five men sit atop the coach and a lone rider keeps pace alongside. The photo presents a fascinating reminder of how once supplies, mail and people were carried across vast stretches of WA.
Read more
Atlas delighted again to support the Lake Karrinyup Country Club (Inc) Women’s Charity Day
The charity day raises funds for various charities which this year included Parkerville Children and Youth Care, Ngala and Spectrum Space. An amazing $55,000 was raised making it Lake Karrinyup Country Club’s most successful charity day! Congratulation to all those who organised and participated in the event.
Read more
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act (2023) causing angst for farmers and miners
WA LEGAL firms and mining companies have reacted to the imminent introduction of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act (2023) by staging their own information sessions and creating online resources to inform farmers, pastoralists and mining interests about the impact of the new legislation on their activities. The act comes into effect on July 1 and has far-reaching implications for farmers and pastoralists, including the likelihood of higher penalties for breaches. The Pastoralists and Graziers’ Association of WA and WAFarmers oppose the new act and say it will be costly and time-consuming for farmers.
Read more
New laws likely to ‘bring agriculture to a halt’ in State
A respected WA pastoralist says her family will have to scrap years of planned works under the new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, claiming the legislation will “bring agriculture to a halt”. The 2022 WA Rural Woman of the Year finalist said she was also concerned the legislation, while giving Aboriginal people more say in managing their cultural heritage, disregarded the multi-generational knowledge and connection to country many pastoralists have inherited. “We’ve had the place for five generations, so we are well aware of any cultural heritage on the property,” Ms Dowden told Countryman. “We would never disturb something of significance; we hold it as precious to our hearts as any Indigenous person would, and we never underestimate the value of that.
Read more
Farmers fear costly red tape could hamper tasks
Farmers fear their ability to do basic tasks like fencing or deep ripping will become tangled in costly red tape when important new legislation designed to protect WA’s Aboriginal cultural heritage takes effect next month. The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 was passed through State Parliament in late December in the wake of Rio Tinto’s infamous blasting of Juukan Gorge more than two years earlier.
Read more