Rinehart calls for tax cuts, criticises renewables and ‘eyesore’ solar panels

“Look, you know, we’re a capital intensive business, we are deploying billions of dollars every [year], so we are always looking for capital, debt [and] equity, so we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Mr Bansal thanked friends and colleagues for helping make him “a better leader and a better person”, and acknowledged that he had made a remarkable corporate comeback after departing his previous ASX role as CEO of Cleanaway amid concerns about his leadership style.

“I think you can’t get here in life without resilience ... when you come from another country and you’re ambitious, you want to do something in life, and you go through a difficult time, you have to tell yourself this is just part and parcel of learnings,” he said.

“One of my boss[es] used to say, if you’re gonna run forward, be prepared to get tackled. It’s not [avoiding] a tackle, it’s how you get up. I’ll never forget that. I never did.”

‘Democratising capitalism’

Mr Hupert, who co-founded medical imaging software group Pro Medicus in 1983, said he was proud of the way the company had grown into a global powerhouse and had inked deals with major hospital groups in the US such as the Mayo Clinic.

“I’m especially proud of the fact that many of the world’s leading healthcare institutions have now standardised on our technology,” he said.

Mr Hupert also joked that the company, which has a market capitalisation of about $9.7 billion, had grown its staff numbers from about 100 to 115 thanks to software being very “scalable”.

An energetic Ms Lacaze referred to herself proudly as “Mining Barbie” and reminded the audience that while Australia used to ride “on the sheep’s back”, it today “stands on the miners’ shoulders”. She added that “we should not be undermined, we should not be nobbled, because all of the [public] services that you all enjoy are paid for by the mining industry”.

Mr Delaney said it was “a bit unusual” for an investor to receive a business award, before noting that the “magic” of superannuation was that it “allows everyone in Australia to participate in the wealth created by Australian businesses ... essentially democratising capitalism”.

The investment chief was at the centre of one of the year’s biggest (non) deals, helping to blow up Origin Energy’s attempted $20 billion takeover by two private equity firms. He told the audience: “We came up against the big end of town, but it was clear where our duties and responsibilities were.”

‘Challenging year’

After being awarded the top prize, Mrs Rinehart thanked the other executives for their speeches and noted that Ms Lacaze’s defence of the mining sector had been “terrific”.

She also thanked her staff, saying that they were helping to build “the best private companies in the world”, before criticising taxes, environmental rules and the push to increase the use of renewable power.

Mrs Rinehart said renewable energy projects could result in one-third of Australia’s agricultural land being “taken over” and suggested that “eyesore” solar panels should be placed in “city parks and rivers” rather than in rural areas.

She also strongly criticised payroll tax and the fuel excise, and said Australia should “roll out the red carpet” to investment by removing red tape.

“I can’t think of anything that isn’t touched by the government’s excise on fuel. I call that a nasty tax that with people struggling would be an absolutely fantastic one to cut,” she said.

Her new year’s wish was for the media to provide “more common sense” and to “not ignore what Blind Freddie can see”, she said

Johnson backs net zero

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson surprised many in the audience by saying that “net zero is unequivocally the right way to go”, after Rishi Sunak’s UK government earlier this year reversed some of the former prime minister’s key climate policies.

Mr Johnson said he thought the days of coal power were limited, but “we’re going to depend on gas for an appreciable length of time”.

“Whatever your views about the science of climate change, you intuitively start to see that humanity is having a colossal impact on what is a quite fragile and small ball in space,” Mr Johnson said.

“If we can insure ourselves against that by going towards green technology, which will deliver millions of good, high-skilled jobs, then what’s wrong with that? It may take longer than we think, but I think [net zero] is the right path. I’m sticking up for net zero.”

The former UK leader also said it was the “constitutional duty” of the UK prime minister of the day to have a good relationship with the US president, and there could be “a lot of positives” if Donald Trump were elected for a second time in 2024, particularly in foreign policy.

“You can make a very strong case that Trump, by being robust, was of more value to the world than the Democrats by being flexible and soft,” Mr Johnson said.

He pointed to Mr Trump’s initial arming of Ukraine, his “tough” stance on North Korea, and the development of the Abraham Accords to argue that “the bad guys of the world will know that they will have a strong president in the US”, if he is re-elected.

Mr Johnson questioned whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would have occurred under a Trump presidency.

“I would be amazed if [Vladimir] Putin had done what he did in February 2022 with Trump in the White House. But none of this should be taken to mean I don’t think [US President Joe] Biden has done a very, very good job in a lot of situations.”

Mr Johnson also argued that the controversial policy for Britain to exit the European Union, which he championed, helped speed up the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in the country and saved lives.

Affordable housing a major issue

Mr Johnson also said centre-right politicians in the West needed to realise the seriousness of the housing crisis.

“Centre-right people need to realise that the biggest single problem for young people is that they cannot buy a home,” he said.

“They cannot get the keys to a place in the same way that people of my generation could.”

He also expressed befuddlement at the inability of young Australians to buy a home.

“It took me four hours to fly across the country … is there a problem with your housing laws?”