Nine media report indicates influence sought by Gina Rinehart for sport sponsorship

A report today in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald has outlined the level of influence sought by Hancock Prospecting and its Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart for its extensive support of Australian sport - particularly swimming.

Rinehart, who has been in the news in recent weeks in relation to an unflattering portrait of her at Canberra’s National Gallery of Australia, reportedly demanded, through Hancock Prospecting, influence in key appointments at Swimming Australia as well as seeking to direct how the sport’s sponsorship money was spent.

The Nine report advised that the mining company, which will sponsor the Australian Olympic Committee at the upcoming Paris Games, wanted four-time Olympic gold medallist Dawn Fraser to be considered as Swimming Australia President and for former Swimming Australia High-Performance Director Michael Scott to be appointed Chief Executive.

Providing financial support in swimming, rowing, volleyball and artistic swimming, Hancock Prospecting has contributed up to $80 million into Olympic sport and athletes since the 2012 Games in London, including $50 million into swimming.

The mining company continues to sponsor Australia’s top swimmers despite splitting with Swimming Australia in 2021, topping up direct athlete funding they receive from the Government via her longstanding association with Swimming Queensland.

Hancock Prospecting has said it terminated the relationship with Swimming Australia because of ongoing, serious concerns about the organisation’s management of its money and payments to swimmers.

However, correspondence uncovered by the Nine media outlets outlines a series of demands made by Rinehart’s company during the renegotiation of its sponsorship deal.

As a condition of Hancock Prospecting’s proposed new “swimmers support agreement”, the then-83-year-old Fraser was to be immediately approached to become Swimming Australia President, and the sport was to “use best endeavours” to appoint former Scott as its Chief Executive.

According to the proposal, issued in the second half of 2021, Hancock Prospecting demanded that Fraser, if she agreed to become President, was to receive business-class airfares, plus an economy ticket for a travelling companion, to attend board meetings and swimming events internationally, plus accommodation, meals and out-of-pocket expenses of up to $2500 a day while abroad.

The perks for Fraser were not to be provided to any other board member of the sports body, which was referred to by its business name of Swimming Australia Limited (SAL).

The Hancock proposal also insisted that the new chief executive better align the swimming organisation’s culture “to the fact that without swimmers and sponsors, there’s no SAL”.

Sources referenced by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald advised of the influence sought by Hancock Prospecting over activities in relation to inclusion and Indigenous matters including asking for an Instagram post that acknowledged Pride Month, which celebrates the LGBTQ community, to be taken down and requesting that Swimming Australia staff remove an acknowledgment of Country, which pays respect to Indigenous Australians as traditional custodians of Australian land, from the bottom of their emails.

An acknowledgment of Country does appear on the websites of the sports Hancock Prospecting supports and on the Australian Olympic Committee’s home page.

Asked about the acknowledgment of Country and Pride post requests in 2022, a Hancock Prospecting statement to the ABC advised “Hancock and its executive chairman, Mrs Rinehart, consider that it is unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social or political causes.”

The report went on to outline other unusual requests, such as at the World Championships in Budapest in 2017, when Rinehart asked to have a swim in the competition pool and was permitted to do so after the meet finished.

In late 2022, Hancock Prospecting withdrew a $15 million Netball Australia sponsorship after it was reported that Indigenous player Donnell Wallam expressed reservations about wearing a uniform with Hancock Prospecting’s logo, citing comments by Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, from 1984 suggesting Aboriginal people should be sterilised.

In 2019, Swimming Australia recognised Rinehart with its inaugural Lifetime Contribution Award.

Images: Hancock Prospecting Executive Chairman Gina Rinehart receives Swimming Australia's inaugural Lifetime Contribution Award in 2019 (top, credit: Swimming Australia) and Rinehart being awarded the Australian Olympic Committee’s Order of Merit for her long standing involvement and support of swimming and volleyball in 2024 (below, credit: Swimming Australia).