Gina Rinehart pledges $200million to house homeless war veterans

By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 03:15, 23 April 2026 | Updated: 03:22, 23 April 2026 Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart is spending $200 million to house homeless veterans in one of the nation's biggest ever donations. Ms Rinehart said the money would go towards buying suitable buildings to house veterans, including hotels, motels and apartment blocks. 'I am pleased to confirm that Hancock Prospecting is committing $200 million to help struggling veterans after their service to our nation,' Ms Rinehart said. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 5,800 veterans experienced homelessness annually - nearly three times the rate of the general population. 'The housing crisis, a crisis made critical by government approvals and permits delaying new housing and the ability to extend houses, high government taxes adding to costs, and record high immigration causing hosting shortages, has affected many Australians,' she said. 'But maybe not enough are aware that more than 6,000 of our veterans are now sleeping in the streets. Ms Rinehart urged the state and federal governments to reduce duplication and turn surplus office space into rent-free housing for homeless veterans.  'Firstly, military barracks currently unused or hardly used such as Leeuwin and Irwin in West Australia, and others around the country, the government should consider the veterans, and immediately open those doors to homeless veterans. Australia's richest woman Gina Rinehart is spending $200 million to house homeless veterans in one of the nation's biggest ever donations 'Further, currently around 80 percent of new jobs are taxpayer funded, with our already record debt, record business failures, too high taxation, rising costs and interest rates, expanding the bureaucracy is not sustainable. She said state and federal governments should cut duplication and repurpose spare office space into rent-free accommodation for homeless veterans.  'States have the same departments, for instance such duplication includes, agriculture, environment, the arts, plus minerals and fishing up to the 12 nautical mile limit, these federal departments must close and leave the states to manage the rest with their existing duplicate departments. 'The empty offices could help to house rent free homeless vets, with more rooms available for those suffering from violence or abuse and needing safe places, or struggling Aussie pensioners.  'Yes more curtains, crockery, cutlery, bedding, bathrooms, and some kitchens would need to be included, the reduction in the salaries of thousands of federal bureaucrats, could be put to good use, plus renting out spare offices if possible, could also bring income. Many businesses would benefit, supplying the foregoing.' No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.