GINA RINEHART: Drill, baby, drill! We have so much natural gas in Australia. If we are deciding not to use our vast coal deposits, let's bring online as much gas supply as we can

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Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has spoken at a series of Bush Summits where the billionaire businesswoman outlined five key priorities for Australia.

Below is a transcript of Mrs Rinehart's fourth speech in the series, delivered in Orange, New South Wales, earlier this year. 

In the address, Mrs Rinehart calls for Australia to double down on natural gas production. 

Hi and welcome to all the farmers, small businessmen, miners and other regional Aussies, struggling with timetaking government paperwork, and policies that don't consider the people of our country areas!

It's fantastic to be welcoming you to the Bush Summit here in Orange. The birthplace of Australia's Banjo Peterson, and the song we love, Waltzing Matilda.

The Bush Summit has become increasingly important as I hope it is one that enables those in the country areas to be heard, rather than taken for granted and overlooked. No matter how hard we work, no matter how much we contribute. 

We have developed primary industries that shine on the global stage. Our agricultural produce is amongst the best in the world.

Thank you to all members of our primary industries, and to the businesses our primary industries support.

Our standards of living are not an accident. They are the result of investment and our incredible people in our primary industries.

It is upon these primary industries that all other activity is built. We cannot have manufacturing without mining and agriculture.

Gina RInehart says Australia's standards of living are not an accident. They are the result of investment and our incredible people in our primary industries

It seems it is too easy for some to forget that every aspect of our lives is touched by either the agricultural or mining industry. As you'd know, everything either has to be grown or mined, be it the food on our tables, the energy used to refrigerate or cook it, or the utensils used to eat it, and much more.

These Bush Summits are a refreshing opportunity to hear from those in our country areas, and I hope with the help of the Bush Summit media, that our governments listen.

This is our time to let our politicians know we don't want to go down as an industry or country, we want to go up. We want to see policies that don't frighten away investment, that instead lead to increased investment, increased living standards, and more in your pocket after tax, to spend as you wish. We want to hear from pollies that they will be the leaders who deliver 'the up. '

We've sure had enough of 'the down'. 'The down' makes many parents worry for the future of their children and grandchildren. And many in agriculture worry if the agricultural industry can even survive.

Down will continue if we don't cut government approvals and tape, that add costs and delays. But it's not just businesses that are hurt. Given these expensive government burdens and costly delays, there's less money available for wages and staff benefits, less money available for employing more staff, less money for training and retraining, and less available for donating to charities or for research. 

And it worsens if expansions or new projects are delayed or lost thanks to government tape and slow approvals, as all of the above suffers more. Let's stop the view that government burdens don't matter, they only affect businesses, actually they don't, they add costs to all, and many people suffer.

In some parts of Australia investment is delayed for years, due to litigants who don't have any interest in the area. They do not own the land or even the surrounding land - they may not even be Australians, or may be funded by overseas interests. Or even funded without taxpayers wanting, by taxpayers. 

On the surface some may think this is OK, anything's OK in the name of the environment. Perhaps a closer look is warranted, at the Nature Positive plan for instance, wherein 17 of the species to be protected under this are so dangerous they could kill you. Hopefully the Nature Positive plan doesn't affect your region. The government's secret map of which 30 percent of Australia's land and 30 percent of our oceans will be restricted needs to be made available. 30 percent of Australia is a huge part of Australia. Added to this, farmers are already very upset about wind farms, solar panels and transmission lines taking up their farmland.

And we all know of the rising costs of living. During these rising costs, I especially feel for all those trapped in poverty on pensions of one type or another, our 2.5 million pensioners, incredible veterans, uni students and disabled, not permitted to work without onerous paperwork, and then only permitted a few hours per week. They should be permitted to work as long as they'd like, so they are not trapped unable to cope with the rising costs.

Too many in our country given the governments restrictions are wrongly facing 'heat or eat'. This is unacceptable; our politicians should immediately move. And we have a worker shortage crisis, scarcely helped by expensive immigration, while our government makes it too difficult for our own Aussies to work if they chose. Let's not forget, the approx. one million migrants this government has brought in, resulted in only approx. 40,000 added to the workforce. Yet, causing many disadvantages, the nearly one million people adding to our housing crisis, increasing the cost of rentals, straining police with more crime resulting, and increased delays into hospitals, even being turned away from emergency, as our doctors, nurses, medical facilities simply can't cope. Your family's medical treatments being delayed.

If only our governments would consider the farmers and many struggling and drop payroll, licence fees and stamp tax as they said they would when GST came in, wouldn't that help the cost of living, and the cost of housing. And wouldn't it help too, if the federal government dropped excise tax on fuel, not just lowering costs for our cars and other vehicles, but lowering the cost of all transported goods, and all goods that require fuel for their processing or manufacture! Again, this would actually help the cost of housing, if all these government imposts were removed.

We are unfortunately on the 'down' path. For the last five consecutive quarters Australia has seen negative economic growth per person, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Let's instead lift our country 'up'.

Please use your time and voices, at every opportunity, for Australia to return to this 'up' path.

This is my fourth Bush Summit speech, and time for my next important topic that I think should be a priority for our governments, and essential for the up path. This one you think nearly everyone would want, or maybe will once they go without and pay even more, but unfortunately governments have stepped in, prices are increasing and our competitive edge is eroding with it.

That is of course reliable, cheap and abundant sources of energy.

It is clear that our governments have got energy policy wrong. Our bills just keep going up, demand and supply has been interfered with and our energy system is increasingly unreliable.

Many warned what was happening. But our governments chose not to listen. Instead, they focused too much of their efforts and our taxpayers' money into forcing more and more so-called 'renewable' energy sources into the grid, and insisting cheap and reliable coal fired power stations be shut down, while disrupting gas development.

Reliable, cheap and abundant sources of energy must be a priority for Australia

The Liberal-National opposition under Peter Dutton has announced its ambition for tried and proven nuclear power to help our future. But this is more than a decade away, and with government tape and approvals, likely two decades away. So, what do we do here and now? As one pro-energy security friend says, 'drill baby, drill'. Let's develop our massive natural gas resources and bring on as much supply as we need.

Some people like to claim that our country can run on sunshine and windmills, by all means put these on your own properties if you wish, but don't force it on us when the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine, even at night time! Natural gas is needed as a feedstock for manufacturing, and processing, aside from its uses to generate electricity for homes, offices, hospitals, shopping centres hotels, restaurants, traffic lights, schools, sporting and entertainment centres. Those who don't want to use gas, let them choose not to use, but let those who want reliable energy, have it.

We have so much natural gas in Australia, and if we are deciding not to use our vast coal deposits, let's at least make use of our gas resources.

If any billionaire wants to spend money on unproven, highly flammable, explosive hydrogen, let them, but this should be at their expense, not as a burden on taxpayers, and not to add to our record national debt.

Please don't forget to join us at this year's National Agriculture and National Mining and Related Industries Days, this year to be held at Penfolds and Santos, with more information on the screen. These are important national days, November 21 and 22 each year, please make sure they're in your calendar. Hope to see you there.

Thank you.