Hancock Prospecting: Stakeholder Tensions with Netball Australia

Gina Rinehart, the chair of Hancock Prospecting Pty. Ltd. (HPPL), was Australia’s richest person, with an estimated wealth of AU$30 billion. In September 2022, Rinehart’s organization indicated that it would become a high-performance partner with Netball Australia (NA), the governing body for the sport of netball in the country. HPPL was offering $15- million over four years to sponsor NA, which was $7 million in debt at the time. NA was also about to debut a new Indigenous player named Donnell Wallam on the Australian Diamonds national netball team. HPPL was originally founded by Rinehart’s father, Lang Hancock, who had stated on national television 38 years earlier, “I would dope the water up so that they [Indigenous Australians] were sterile and would breed themselves out in the future.” In October 2022, a considerable amount of media coverage was focused on the tension between netball players who supported Wallam and her discomfort with the HPPL founder’s comments. Some players also took an ethical environmental stand against fossil fuels, including the fact that HPPL represented the mining industry. Rinehart had to decide whether to continue with the proposed $15- million sponsorship of NA or to cancel the plan.