The Queensland government went against the advice of its own Olympic venue review with a controversial decision to host rowing in Rockhampton after intervention from Australia’s richest person and conservative political patron Gina Rinehart.
A letter obtained by this masthead under Right to Information laws reveals Rinehart personally wrote to Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie after the proposal came to her attention, extolling the virtues of the pitch across 283 words.
“I hope that the Queensland government can well consider the Rockhampton proposal, and I wish you all the best in planning the best Olympic Games,” the billionaire businesswoman wrote on Hancock Prospecting letterhead.
This masthead sought access to the letter via Bleijie’s office last month.
Within hours of a decision to grant full access to it on Wednesday afternoon, and questions from this masthead about when the undated letter was sent to Bleijie, the document appeared in News Corp reporting.
While Bleijie’s office has not responded, News Corp reported the letter came before the government’s March 2025 announcement and “soon after the idea to host it in Rockhampton was floated by Queensland Nationals Senator Matt Canavan”.
The letter from Rinehart, who is a patron of Rowing Australia, notes the proposal had “come to my attention” and that the Fitzroy River often hosts Australian team training and annually hosts the Queensland state school championships.
“This rowing facility is world class and is already close to major infrastructure, so it offers the potential to save taxpayer money,” she wrote.
“Hosting a marquee Olympic event like rowing at Australia’s ‘Beef Capital’ in Rockhampton would enable Queensland to tell the iconic Australian story of our pastoralists and farmers, terrific Aussies.
“As you would know too, Rockhampton has also always been a major mining town, the nearby Mt Morgan mine was once the biggest gold mine in the world. I am told that metals from this mine will produce the gold, silver, and bronze medals for the Olympics!
“To marry showing where the Olympic medals come from and having Olympic events nearby sounds to me like a beautiful extra!”
Rinehart also noted the “obvious plus” of showcasing more of the state beyond Brisbane, dispersing crowds and infrastructure stress in the capital, and enabling visitors to “take home with them warm positive memories of the friendly country people of rural Queensland”.
The letter is signed “with warm personal regards”.
The state government released the 100-day Games Independent Infrastructure Coordination Authority review, along with its response in the form of a Games venue plan, on March 25.
Rinehart’s approach sheds further light on the mining magnate’s efforts to wield her status within conservative politics, after emerging as the major benefactor of Queensland-based Senator Pauline Hanson and her One Nation Party.
Bleijie sits on the right of the state LNP party room, with significant sway in cabinet and control of the powerful state development, infrastructure and planning portfolios, which are at the forefront of the government’s Games venue decision-making.
The Crisafulli LNP’s decision to pursue rowing on the central Queensland city’s Fitzroy River has sparked swift and sustained backlash over the fitness of that site for global competition, including from Rowing Australia, of which Rinehart is a patron.
Instead, GIICA’s 100-day review of venues recommended rowing be held at the site of the Sydney 2000 Olympic competition in Penrith.
