"Crocodile Dundee" solidified the Aussies' reputation as laid back and fun-loving, but the world's richest woman, who happens to hail from the island continent, is singlehandedly changing that.
Gina Rinehart, the Australian mining heiress worth $19 billion, has "sparked controversy" in her latest column in Australian Resources and Investment magazine. Rinehart rails against class warfare and says the non-rich should stop attacking the rich and go to work. CNBC's Robert Frank happens to be a registered online reader, and reports on the rant …er, column.
"There is no monopoly on becoming a millionaire," she writes. "If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain. Do something to make more money yourself—spend less time drinking, or smoking and socializing and more time working."
As Frank notes, her comments were part of "a treatise on what she sees as Australia's decline due to high taxes, high wages and overregulation. Rinehart said taxes should fall, red tape should be cut, environmental rules relaxed and the minimum wage should be lowered. It's currently AUS $15.06 an hour or $606 a week, about the same in U.S. dollars."
He somewhat understatedly adds that her quotes are sure to escalate the already heated debate in the United States, Britain and Europe over class warfare, taxing the wealthy and "fair shares."
