For the second consecutive year, Gina Rinehart has been named as a Visionary CEO at an awards ceremony run by consulting group McMillan Woods in Kuala Lumpur.
Mrs Rinehart used the awards event to promote Australians for Northern Development and Economic Vision, a group she helped to establish.
In support of that goal, she has also recently been appointed a Northern Territory Ambassador by the NT government,
“To tell someone they are a ‘person of vision’ in any walk of life is an enormous compliment,” Mrs Rinehart said after accepting her award in front of hundreds of guests, including members of the Malaysian royal family.
She performed her first official act as an NT Ambassador by presenting a film of the Northern Territory to the guests at the award ceremony.
“We stand for what many in Australia want – to see our amazing north opened up,” Mrs Rinehart said.
“There is so much potential for our region’s food supply, for minerals and for energy – yet realising this has been, as we say in Australia, ‘in the too hard basket’.”
Mrs Rinehart said she was optimistic that the newly elected Abbott government would deliver on its post-election promise to “remove a series of taxes”.
“Less tax and less regulation once implemented will spark that great Australian spirit again and help us bring strong and prosperous partnerships with so many of you in this region,” she said.
Mrs Rinehart’s private company, Hancock Prospecting, recently reported an annual profit of $490 million on revenue of $2 billion for the year to June 2013.
The company’s main asset is a 50 per cent interest in the Hope Downs iron ore mine; it is also developing the 70 per cent-owned Roy Hill iron ore mine.
