Just when this column thought it had absolutely wrung dry all possible permutations of news, titbits, comment, gossip and conjecture about Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart , and the use of her image in paintings, caricatures, cartoons, photographs and the like with her permission/against her will – we were proved wrong. Driza-Bone advertisement featuring John Bjeke-Petersen and Gina Rinehart. Regular readers will recall the controversy over Rinehart’s hate of the unflattering Vincent Namatjira portrait in the National Gallery of Australia.
Then there was the painting Rinehart actually approved of, which turned out to have been painted by Alix Korte , wife of Hancock Prospecting chief executive Garry Korte . But Holy Gruen Transfer ! – Rinehart has only gone and given permission for a full-page print advertisement starring herself. The ad, which has run in national newspapers, is for something she actually owns, the iconic rural brand Driza-Bone, famous for its oilskin coats.
Our contact at Rinehart Global HQ tried to persuade us that it was all old news – after all, Rinehart bought the bush apparel company late last year via her S. Kidman & Co pastoral company, with the ambition to expand and revive the firm, which dates back to 1898. With that in mind, she is proudly kitted up in a signature Driza-Bone coat with an orange bush hat on her head, standing beside none other than John Bjelke-Petersen , the son of the former conservative Queensland premier Sir J.