From the Urban Dictionary: WOMBAT – Waste of money, brains and time
One of the best profiles done on The Wittenom Wombat, or Gina Rinehart as she is otherwise known, was done by the now sadly defunct ABC TV show, The Hungry Beast.
Since that profile first went to air, Rinehart has become entangled in a legal battle with her own children for control of a trust which holds the Hancock Prospecting assets. This is somewhat ironic, given that she had to go through a lengthy legal battle to gain control of it in the first place (as described in the above video).
Also mentioned in the video, is the bit about Rinehart wanting to use nuclear explosions to develop open cut mines in place of the dynamite which is currently used.
Nothing could illustrate just how out of touch she is with the real world. Did she not consider that the mines would be unsafe to go near for a thousand years after letting off these nukes? Did she not consider that no-one would ever work on these mines? Did she not consider that no nation on Earth would buy her toxic minerals, even if she did find anyone stupid enough to dig them out of the ground in the first place? Apparently not.
In order to gain some further understanding of Rinehart’s character, it might help to have a look at the biggest influence on her life, her father, mining magnate Lang Hancock. Here is a video featuring Lang, amongst others, proposing a “solution to the Aboriginal problem”.
Sounds more like a “final solution” to me.
It isn’t all bad however. Like other uber-rich individuals such as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Rinehart also believes in philanthropy.
Whereas Gates has set up the Gates Foundation to help to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty in developing countries, and Buffett has bequeathed most of his fortune to Gates’ charity, Rinehart has donated a rock with a crappy poem on it.
Here it is folks, Rinehart’s idea of philanthropy:
Gina’s Gift To The Nation – A Rock With A Crappy Poem On It
On the matter of her “poetry”, Creative Writing lecturer Dennis Haskell at the University of Western Australia said on ABC radio that, “…if one of our creative writing students at UWA had presented it, he or she wouldn’t have done very well.” “As a poet she’s about as good as I am at mining,” he added. He suggested that Rinehart “…should stick to her day job. She won’t make as much money out of poetry, that’s for sure.”
Shortly after the story of the poem broke, some wag added to her page on Wikipedia that “Rineharts’ poetry is even worse than that of The Vogons”, a reference to creatures in Douglas Adams “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy“, and that “… although many still dispute if it qualifies to be classified as poetry.”. This reference has since been removed from the Wikipedia profile.
Here is a video of The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel reciting the “poem” on QandA, followed by the text itself.
Our Future
The globe is sadly groaning with debt, poverty and strife
And billions now are pleading to enjoy a better life
Their hope lies with resources buried deep within the earth
And the enterprise and capital which give each project worth
Is our future threatened with massive debts run up by political hacks
Who dig themselves out by unleashing rampant tax
The end result is sending Australian investment, growth and jobs offshore
This type of direction is harmful to our core
Some envious unthinking people have been conned
To think prosperity is created by waving a magic wand
Through such unfortunate ignorance, too much abuse is hurled
Against miners, workers and related industries who strive to build the world
Develop North Australia, embrace multiculturalism and welcome short term foreign workers to our shores
To benefit from the export of our minerals and ores
The world’s poor need our resources: do not leave them to their fate
Our nation needs special economic zones and wiser government, before it is too late.
As if the international ridicule she received from that wasn’t enough, Rinehart invited yet more scorn when she appeared in a video for the Sydney Mining Club, where she proposed that, to compete with mines in Africa, Australian workers should be paid $2 a day for their toil. Here’s the video in its entirety:
Almost as soon as the video was published on YouTube, comments were disabled. there is no need to speculate on what the gist of the comments would’ve been, as media outlets across the globe poured scorn on her for her diatribe.
One of the most balanced was from The Young Turks main host, Cenk Uygur:
No other commentary was as complimentary to Rinehart as that one. The Derp has already featured a parody of her speech earlier this month under “Her Majesty’s Address To The Nation“.
So let’s examine what her “plan” will do to Australia.
With everyone on $2 a day, Rinehart would have to also feed, clothe and shelter these workers, as no-one would be able to afford to do this for themselves. The property market would collapse as no-one could afford to pay their mortgages, or even rent somewhere to live. This would cause the banks in Australia to collapse with the flow on effects that would bring about.
We only have to look back to the U.S. in 2008 to see the impact that collapsing banks has had on the world.
Courtesy of Andrew (@Boatie86 on Twitter)
If everyone on Twitter donates a day’s wages ($2), we can buy Gina a one way ticket to Africa
#goodriddance#wittenoomwombat
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