Gina Rinehart Pulls Multi-Million-Dollar Australian Netball Sponsorship

Australian netball is trouble after mining mogul Gina Rinehart announces she will be revoking sponsorship of the Diamonds netball squad.

Rinehart’s company announced in a statement that they are planning to pull her $15 million sponsorship of the squad citing they did not want to add to the “disunity problems” and that they will be revoking the offer “effective immediately”.

"Hancock and Roy Hill do not wish to add to Netball's disunity problems, and accordingly Hancock has advised Netball Australia (the governing body of netball in Australia) that it has withdrawn from its proposed partnership effective immediately," the statement said. 

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The company also added that environmentalists have been neglecting certain truths about the mining industry.

"Mining is critical to securing the minerals essential for everyday life," they said.

"An often conveniently neglected truth when activists talk emotively about mining is that most, if not all, of the primary products required for the equipment, production, distribution and delivery of renewable energy depend on resources that need to be mined."

Netball Australia chairperson Wendy Archer said she was disappointed to hear the deal would be pulled.

"This has been a challenging period for all involved and while every effort has been made from all parties to resolve the issues surrounding the sensitivities of the partnership, unfortunately we have not been able to achieve a mutually satisfactory outcome," she said.

Despite walking away from the deal, the company will continue to sponsor the team for another four months until a suitable replacement is found.

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