Gina Rinehart tells private school students to be wary of ‘climate propaganda’
The richest woman in Australia, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, caused a stir recently when a video she had recorded for her alma mater had to be cut because of her controversial views.
In the video, recorded by Rinehart for the 125th anniversary of her alma mater, St Hilda’s Anglican School for Girls in Perth’s Mosman Park, Rinehart speaks for 16 minutes instead of the required 5, and only managed to stay on topic for so long. She starts out talking about her family’s connections to the school, which go back four generations. About five minutes in, however, she begins critiquing the ‘propaganda’ she believes students are being taught regarding climate change.
“It’s very important in my view that today’s parents or guardians or grandparents ask their children each and every day what they are learning at school, counter any propaganda and address their concerns with teachers directly,” she says in the video.
“Please be very careful about information spread on emotional basis, or tied to money, or egos, or power-seekers, and always search for the facts, even if the tide is against you, and it’s not considered popular.
“Facts may not be popular, but that shouldn’t mean they should be overlooked.”
Faculty members cut the video short, but the entire video, along with a transcript, can still be viewed on Rinehart’s website. In the full-length speech, she mentions inviting infamous climate deniers such as Lord Monckton and Professor Ian Plimer to speak at the school in response to students being shown Al Gore’s 2006 documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
When asked for his thoughts on Rinehart’s views, WA premier Mark McGowan said that it was “well accepted by scientists and governments and people all over the world that carbon emissions by us are increasing temperatures.
“That’s certainly what I believe, and the overwhelming majority of scientists believe, and I think we should work on that basis,” he said.
It is widely accepted by bodies like NASA, the UN, and the CSIRO that climate change is real, is occurring as the result of humanity’s impact on the climate, and will only get worse in the decades to come if more is not done to combat it. Meanwhile, the claims made by skeptics like Lord Monckton and Professor Plimer denying the realities of climate change have been widely and thoroughly debunked.
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