ABC deletes interview misquoting Gina Rinehart about '$2 a day pay'

The ABC has removed a second piece in a month concerning mining magnate Gina Rinehart.

The public broadcaster admitted that airing an unsubstantiated claim that Australia's richest women wants Aussie workers to “work for $2 a day”, was “inaccurate.”

The news was reported by News24 late last week, after a complaint was made about an ABC Radio South West Victoria segment.

Victorian Socialists candidate Hera Sheppard made the claim during an appearance on the show to discuss the rise of One Nation in the polls.

The 18-year-old said One Nation's surge was "a result of the massive amounts of funding from billionaires like Gina Rinehart who are pushing for Australian workers to work for $2 a day".

Host Jeremy Lee did not challenge the statement nor seek its source for confirmation.

READ MORE: ABC will change editorial policy after Rinehart violent video broadcast

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ABC forced to retract second piece about Gina Rinehart

A statement published on the ABC website on late Friday afternoon reads:

"During an interview on 12 August 2026, Victorian Socialists candidate Hera Sheppard stated without contest that Gina Rinehart was 'pushing for Australian workers to work for two dollars a day.

"This was inaccurate.

"(Ms) Rinehart's previous comments referred to African workers being willing to work for less than $2 a day, in the context of Australia’s international competitiveness.

"An on-air correction has been issued."

The complaint was made by Rinehart's company, Hancock Prospecting, which said Sheppard's claim was a misrepresentation of comments which Rinehart made in 2012.

She said at the time:

“Business as usual will not do, not when West African competitors can offer our biggest customers an average capital cost for a tonne of iron ore that’s $100 under the price offered by an emerging producer in the Pilbara.

“Furthermore, Africans want to work, and its workers are willing to work for less than $2 per day. Such statistics make me worry for this country’s future.”

News 24 reports Hancock Prospecting explains Rinehart's comments as being about “the pressure of competing with lower-cost overseas producers, not a call for Australian wages to be cut to that level.”

Gina Rinehart/A still from Kate McGuinness's clip. Image: Instagram

Gina Rinehart vs ABC

This latest incident comes as the ABC was forced to apologise to Rinehart about airing a clip which depicted violence against her.

As Mediaweek reported last Thursday, the ABC announced new editorial policies that will protect individuals.

After he issued an apology to Rinehart, Managing Director Hugh Marks told ABC Radio North Queensland assured listeners that the ABC’s guidelines will now demand that “no individual should be the subject of comedy that is violent in its description in our programming”.

He added, “And I think the ABC has to hold itself to a higher standard and I think it’s really important we make that change.”

In the controversial video, made by creator Kate McGuinness, a fantasy of violence against Australia's richest woman is played out.

The ABC aired the ‘satirical’ clip of Rinehart being mocked and assaulted, in a Race Around the World episode in July.

After defending the broadcast, the ABC referred the clip to its internal ombudsman. It also published an apology from creator McGuinness, and finally, late last week, issued its own apology.

“While the (ABC) ombudsman has found that the film did not breach the ABC’s editorial policies, the ABC acknowledges the episode has fallen short of community expectations," Marks said.

“The ABC apologises to Mrs Rinehart and to anyone else affected or upset by the publication of the film.”