As a climate change sceptic it is no surprise Rinehart opposes the carbon tax.
Rinehart’s statement did not answer questions about whether the mining magnate had funded community organisations lobbying to stop the carbon tax.
But it did criticise the media for failing to accurately report the tax’s potential impacts.
Rinehart said she was concerned about the impact of the carbon tax and the lack of understanding in the media on the issue.
“Imposing such a high carbon tax will add to Australia’s high costs, not only for businesses already facing problems with cost competitiveness, but also for Australians,” she said.
Rinehart came under attack from unions last month after her Roy Hill mine won approval from the government to import up to 1,700 foreign workers to help build the project.
Rinehart said the media did not understand that foreign labour was needed because Australians on the east coast were reluctant to work in the Pilbara, the heartland of the resources boom.
“It is a fact that over decades of experience, relatively few people have ventured from eastern Australia to the Pilbara for work,” Rinehart said.
“The availability of tradesmen and skilled labour for large construction projects in remote areas like the Pilbara region of Western Australia is very limited, particularly when we are faced with simultaneous competition for labour from other large development projects in the oil and gas and mining industries in Australia.”
Rinehart warned the Roy Hill mine’s ability to secure more than $6 billion in debt financing by the end of the year could be threatened by the Gillard government’s carbon and mining taxes, which would drive up costs for miners when they come into effect next week.
She said all major Australian banks, many international banks and overseas export credit agencies had expressed interest in providing debt for Roy Hill, but conditions in Australia made the raising of “such massive debt finance more difficult”.
Rinehart also revealed her multibillion-dollar legal dispute with three of her four adult children has further hindered the development of her flagship project.
Roy Hill plans to start shipping iron ore towards the end of 2014, with production expected to reach 55 million tonnes a year.
South Korean steelmaker Posco, shipbuilder STX and Japan’s Marubeni said in March that they would buy 30% of Roy Hill for $3.5bn.
Rinehart said the equity deals were meant to have been in place last year, but her legal battle in the NSW Supreme Court had delayed equity finalisation.
This, in turn, delayed the debt raising process and the entire project.
Cara Waters is a former SmartCompany editor. Previously, Cara was a senior reporter for the Financial Times’ website and worked for The Sunday Times in London.
