The mining company,which will sponsor the Australian Olympic Committee at the upcoming Paris Games,also stipulated that only tea and coffee should be served at board meetings,while Fraser would enjoy perks such as free international and domestic business-class flights,with an economy plus-one,and a $2500 per diem allowance when travelling.
Providing financial support in swimming,rowing,volleyball and artistic swimming,the 70-year-old magnate has ploughed up to $80 million into Olympic sports and athletes since the 2012 Games in London,and $50 million into swimming alone.
Those she has sponsored have publicly attributed some of their success to her,saying her generosity had allowed them to keep competing when they otherwise may not have been able to afford it.
Gina Rinehart with swimmers Cate Campbell,Bronte Campbell and Kyle Chalmers during the 2018 Australian swimming trials.AAP
Now an investigation byTheSydney Morning HeraldandThe Age has laid bare the extent to which Rinehart has sought to wield control over Australia’s showpiece Olympic sport and attempted to use Hancock Prospecting’s backing of the country’s high-profile swimmers to protect its public image.
Rinehart’s funding delivers her both influence and access over Australia’s world-beating swim team.
Her clout was highlighted last week when this masthead against a portrait of her by Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira at the National Gallery of Australia and another artwork that had been hanging at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
But her requests for access have extended to taking a dip in the pool during a world championship competition.
Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting wanted Michael Scott to be approached to become chief executive of Swimming Australia.Getty Images
Rinehart,whose fortune is estimated to be more than $37 billion,continues to sponsor Australia’s top swimmers despite splitting with Swimming Australia in 2021. She tops up the 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.
But newly uncovered correspondence 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 Dawn Fraser was to be immediately approached to become Swimming Australia president,and the sport was to “use best endeavours” to appoint former Rowing Australia chief executive and ex-Swimming Australia high-performance director Michael 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,who Rinehart referred to at a function last year as “our wonderful Dawnie”,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).
Gina Rinehart and Dawn Fraser during the 2018 Australian swimming trials.AAP
Interstate directors could attend meetings from their home states via video link,the letter suggested.
The proposal said the CEO,as part of their contract,was to “ensure that no expenses for SAL’s Board and President (if not Dawn Fraser) are to be paid from Sponsor’s funds,with the exception of teas,coffees,waters and parking fees for Board meetings and the AGM”.
The proposed agreement added that “the CEO is to direct that SAL’s staff,including its PR staff,are not to spend any of their time (other than for Board papers,Board meetings,and AGM) doing tasks for SAL’s Board members or Executives,but to use their focus and time for the swimmers,and if requested by the major sponsors,to correct errors the media make regarding the sponsors”.
“For instance,[in] media including during the John Laws’ program with its multimillions of listeners,it was stated or implied,that this Sponsor had not sponsored swim Paralympians for 7 years,or more,” the proposed agreement said.
“[Swimming Australia and its] PR did not correct[that],and no sponsor would be willing to have such misrepresentation after sponsoring in good faith for 7 years. If SAL or SAL executives want PR for themselves,they pay for this themselves.”
Hancock Prospecting has sponsored Paralympic swimmers since its deal with Swimming Australia began in 2014 and has unveiled a new medal and world record incentive scheme in which disabled athletes are eligible for the same performance bonuses as able-bodied competitors.
Swimmer Cate Campbell with Dawn Fraser in 2021.Supplied
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”.
“Swimmers and sponsors deserve better and more reliable performance by SAL,” it said.
The Hancock Prospecting letter stipulated it wanted a say in how its sponsorship money would be spent.
“The new CEO will be tasked with improving SAL culture to one of accountability with major sponsors’ funds,to use as sponsors may direct,and to endeavour to lessen the current arrogance of some elements of SAL,who are against such accountability.”
The ultimatum was too much for Swimming Australia,and it was rejected.
However,multiple sources with knowledge of Hancock Prospecting’s sponsorship since 2014 said it reflected the demanding nature of Rinehart’s dealings with the sport. They spoke to this masthead on the condition of anonymity to speak freely.
It included the company 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 said:“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.”
Unusual requests
There were also unusual requests,such as at the world championships in Budapest in 2017,when the generous benefactor asked to have a swim in the competition pool and was permitted to do so after the meet finished.
In 2021,she appeared on the tarmac at Cairns airport to farewell Australia’s swimmers,who were in a COVID-19 bubble as they flew out from their pre-Games camp in north Queensland to the Tokyo Olympics.
Sources say Rinehart was also uncomfortable about funding open-water swimmers because of the presence of sharks in the ocean.
A spokesperson for Hancock Prospecting said on Friday:“Hancock Prospecting’s and Executive Chairman Mrs Gina Rinehart AO’s long-term funding of Australia’s best athletes is necessary to enable them to represent Australia at their best.
“Mrs Rinehart’s patronage extends beyond merely such financial support,she is a dedicated patron. She often speaks of the athletes’ hard work,dedication,and that they are terrific role models and young ambassadors,making people across our nation,proud. Hancock Prospecting has positive partnerships with multiple national and state sporting organisations as well as the Australian Olympic Committee.”
The break with Swimming Australia came a year before Hancock withdrew a $15 million Netball Australia sponsorship in a firestorm of controversy.
Donnell Wallam expressed reservations about wearing a uniform with the Hancock Prospecting logo.Getty Images
That deal was pulled after Indigenous goal shooter 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.
The level of influence Rinehart retains in swimming spilled into the open last week when this masthead revealed swimmers had intervened on her behalf about portraits of her in prominent galleries after an email was sent to them by Swimming Queensland last month.
This masthead can reveal the email suggests Rinehart personally found the portraits “offensive and insulting”.
The email read:“Athletes. It has come to our attention that there are some portraits of Mrs Rinehart displayed in both the National and South Australian Art Galleries that she (rightly so) finds offensive and insulting.
“I have attached them here to help give context to the situation for you,however,please do not share these.
“We will be reaching out to the CEO of the galleries to express our concerns with the pieces and that they do not represent the image nor reputation that is deserved as the Patron of our sport. To assist in the message being received,it would be great to put weight behind it as a collective group,given you are the athletes she loves and supports so generously.
Double or nothing:Vincent Namatjira’s portraits of Gina Rinehart were the subject of requests for removal.Supplied
“This is completely optional,of course,however if you would be happy to have your name attached to a message of this nature,please reply to this email and I will include your name in support. Thank you,as always,and all the best at Aus Opens next week.”
Swimming Queensland said Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers had brought the issue to its attention and was among the swimmers to endorse the campaign.
Chalmers said:“I think she just deserves to be praised and looked upon definitely a lot better than what the portraits have made her out to be. Without her sponsorship,we would actually have nothing.”
A game-changing difference
Australia’s swimmers receive up to $37,500 per athlete under the Australian Sports Commission’s direct athlete support scheme,which was distributing $16.6 million to 850 athletes across Olympic sports in 2023-24.
The money Rinehart pours in makes a game-changing difference on top of that,helping athletes pay the rent and put food on the table,and has a particular impact for those in sports where prize money is small to non-existent. Through her Hancock Prospecting Swimmer Support Scheme,the Dolphins,as the Australian swimming team is called,receive up to $50,000 each. Rowers receive $28,000 each,while top artistic swimmers and volleyball players get up to $24,000 each.
They are also eligible for the new incentive program that sets aside $3 million over two years in performance bonuses for swimmers,rowers,volleyball players and artistic swimmers who win medals at world championships and Olympic and Paralympic Games or set world records.
Some,like 25-year-old Chalmers,have been fortunate to reap even greater benefits. He is the brand ambassador for Bannister Down Dairy,in which Rinehart is a partner.
Kyle Chalmers and Gina Rinehart (left,in hat) at the world championships last year.Instagram
His closeness to her was demonstrated when his mother sat next to Rinehart in the front row of the grandstand at the world championships in Fukuoka,Japan,last year,where he won gold in the 100-metre freestyle. “I got to share my special moments with my mum and Mrs Rinehart … these are memories that I will cherish for a lifetime,” Chalmers said at the time.
Rinehart has also opened her very deep pockets in myriad other ways. She paid for the swimmers’ parents to come together at Noosa to watch the Tokyo Olympics with her and Fraser when they were unable to go to Japan in the midst of the pandemic.
At the Patron’s Gala swimming awards nights she hosts at her mansion in Brisbane,athletes have been known to walk away with gifts such as an Apple MacBook Pro.
At last year’s event,where singer Guy Sebastian performed the national anthem and some female athletes took part in a fashion show,swimmers thanked Rinehart as she called them to the microphone one by one.
“We couldn’t do this without you,” said women’s 200m and 400m freestyle Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus. “It’s very tough to prioritise training and your financial support means we can do that.”
Swimmers give thanks to Gina Rinehart at the Patron's Annual Swimming Awards in 2023
Freestyle sprinter Shayna Jack told Rinehart:“You go above and beyond.”
Cam McEvoy,the men’s 50m freestyle world champion who has studied physics at university,said:“To lean on one of my favourite quotes from Isaac Newton ... to be able to achieve what we can and see that little bit further,it’s by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Swimming Queensland director Jeff Winnington,the father of men’s 400m world champion Elijah Winnington,also spoke glowingly of Rinehart at the private function,saying she would send emails at 2am,but that reflected a commitment to “making the dreams of others come true”.
“In the bigness of Mrs Rinehart’s world,I’m constantly blown away by the commitment that she has to look out and improve this sport in this great country,” he said.
“Mrs Rinehart doesn’t need to do what she does,but she does it anyway.”
Problems ‘resolved’
Swimming Australia has endured turmoil in recent years,cycling through a series of presidents and chief executives,and last year having to face up to a report into body-shaming in the sport.
But the Hancock Prospecting spokesperson said on Friday its issues with Swimming Australia were behind it.
“The problems with Swimming Australia are a past issue,resolved by Queensland Swimming,who are getting the payments to swimmers in a timely transparent fashion,after concerns this was not occurring under previous Swimming Australia leadership,” the spokesperson said.
“We have accepted an invitation to being guests of Swimming Australia’s new CEO Rob Woodhouse at the Olympic and Paralympic Swimming Selection Trials in June.”
Woodhouse – an Olympic medallist in the 1980s – has made clear he wants to mend the bridge.
“I have met with Mrs Rinehart. I did that on the Gold Coast[where the Australian Swimming Championships were held] a few weeks ago,” Woodhouse said earlier this month.
“From a Swimming Australia point of view,I certainly recognise that she is doing incredible things with the support she is giving to our sport and athletes. The support for the athletes is phenomenal,it really is.”
While Hancock’s direct athlete funding plugs a gap,suggestions the company had been bankrolling swimming and other Olympic sports are sometimes overstated. The federal government,through the Australian Sports Commission,tipped in $13.98 million into swimming in 2020-21,for instance,compared to about $2 million from the mining company.
Even so,as a source connected to swimming said:“You’re talking about sports that struggle for national relevance outside four weeks every four years,which makes it very challenging to attract that commercial support.
“Her backing certainly offers a safety net,but with it comes a level of control and demand that maybe only swimming as a national governing body was able to say no to.”
Hancock Prospecting’s separation from Swimming Australia was acrimonious,but there was no indication of tension with its other major Olympic sports partnerships – rowing and volleyball.
“Our partnership has been extended until 2028 and will continue to allow our athletes to have a laser-focus on chasing their dreams to represent their country to the best of their ability,” Rowing Australia chief executive Sarah Cook said. “As a sport,we are incredibly grateful to Mrs Gina Rinehart and Hancock Prospecting for their ongoing support.”
‘There is never an agenda’
Volleyball Australia president Craig Carracher said he had a relationship with Rinehart “where there’s a strong element of trust”.
“She’s never engaged in any of our politics. There is never an agenda. Her only concern is the athletes,” Carracher said. “Our sport is very grateful. She’s never asked for anything. She’s never said,‘Come out and say what a wonderful person I am’,even during the netball saga.”
Her only concern,according to Carracher,was making sure her company was being well represented. “She counts the umbrellas with Hancock logos on them,” he said. “I have to send her all the pictures and show it’s representing the brand really well. She would text me and say,‘Hope my umbrellas are looking good’.”
Athletes in Rinehart-backed swimming and rowing won 11 of Australia’s 17 gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
She wasn’t there to lap it up because of the global health crisis.
In nine weeks,however,she will be in Paris,this time with Hancock Prospecting as an Australian Olympic Committee sponsor,hoping to be sprinkled in the gold dust of nation-inspiring triumph.
“The AOC is very grateful for that support,” an AOC spokesman said.
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