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Why Gina Rinehart is circling Channel Seven · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian, here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Thursday, May 28, 2026. The big business lobby has
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: declared war with Labor over the budget, vowing to oppose
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  Speaker 1: any capital gains tax reform beyond housing and warning international
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  Speaker 1: investors are already being turned off Australia. That story's live
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: now at theaustralian.com.au. Along with our rolling coverage of a
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  Speaker 1: budget the government thought would be a lot more popular
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: than it is. She's the mining billionaire with big ambitions
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  Speaker 1: above the ground. Jenna Reinhart has been revealed as the
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  Speaker 1: financial backer of a big new buy-up into Seven, the
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  Speaker 1: media group controlling TV, radio, podcast and newspaper publishing assets
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  Speaker 1: across Australia. This is Reinhart's third foray into entertainment. So
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  Speaker 1: what's the end game? The journo with the ear of
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  Speaker 1: all the billionaires, John Stenzelt, is here in just a moment.
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  Speaker 1: John Stenzelt is the Australian's lists editor, and we're talking
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  Speaker 1: today about a new huge move in the business of media.
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  Speaker 1: Gina Reinhart, who has stuck her toe in the water
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  Speaker 1: of being a media titan from time to time, seems
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  Speaker 1: to be back with the revelation she's financing a new
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  Speaker 1: shareholder in one of the country's most influential media groups. John,
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  Speaker 1: what's going on? What is Gina Reinhart up to?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it involves another colourful media character, Bruce McWilliam, who's
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  Speaker 2: Channel 7's old commercial director and one of Kerry Stokes'
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  Speaker 2: confidants for a long, long time, right-hand man, consigliere, however
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  Speaker 2: you want to describe him. He's been buying shares in
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  Speaker 2: Southern Cross Media, which is now the owner of Seven
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  Speaker 2: and Radio Assets. And so we knew that, but it
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  Speaker 2: turned out to... This morning at the ASX, there was
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  Speaker 2: an announcement that came out saying that Gina Reinhardt was
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  Speaker 2: actually behind Bruce's shareholding. So, in effect, she's lent the
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  Speaker 2: money to Bruce. By the way, Bruce is quite wealthy.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think he needs the money. He does need
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  Speaker 2: to be lent the money anyway. She's lent the money
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  Speaker 2: for him to buy pretty much 10% of Southern Cross.
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  Speaker 2: So there's all these questions now. What does she want
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  Speaker 2: to do? How is she involved with Bruce? What does
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  Speaker 2: Bruce want to do? Where does Kerry Stokes stand? There's
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  Speaker 2: a lot of colourful characters, as there often is in media.
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  Speaker 1: Once upon a time, Gina Reinhart owned a pretty big
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  Speaker 1: share in Fairfax Media, which is now Nine's newspaper business.
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  Speaker 1: She's also been an owner of Channel 10. Her time
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  Speaker 1: at Fairfax came to an end in a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a dispute about the level of control that she wanted.
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  Speaker 1: There were reports at the time that she wanted editorial control.
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  Speaker 1: Fairfax journalists were out fighting today, claiming Gina Reinhart could
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  Speaker 1: soon be telling any reporters who were left what to write.
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  Speaker 1: She certainly wanted seats on the board of Fairfax. Now,
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  Speaker 1: she's denied that she wanted to control the direction of
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  Speaker 1: those newspapers, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. What's
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  Speaker 1: your sense of what she actually wants now? Do you
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  Speaker 1: think she wants meditorial control at seven?
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  Speaker 3: She certainly wants to say in things I would say.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, look, there was even rumours, I remember quite clearly,
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  Speaker 2: that she had approached some other billionaires to take out
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  Speaker 2: The Age. Can you imagine The Age being owned by
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  Speaker 2: Gina Reinhart and other billionaires? I mean, it's quite amazing, right?
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  Speaker 2: It certainly did happen. Look, there's all sorts of interesting
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  Speaker 2: permutations to this. There was a theory that perhaps under
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  Speaker 2: Southern Cross's new board, which is about to, some of
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  Speaker 2: it's about to get turfed, that they were interested in
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  Speaker 2: selling off West Australian newspapers, which would be the West Australian.
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  Speaker 2: One theory I've been told though, you'll love this, that
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  Speaker 2: perhaps Andrew Forrest was a potential buyer or had been approached. Now,
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  Speaker 2: I think as a lot of people know, Twiggy and
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  Speaker 2: Kerry Stokes have not necessarily seen eye to eye.
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  Speaker 3: So maybe there was.
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  Speaker 2: A play where, you know, Genick rides to the rescue
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  Speaker 2: with Bruce McWilliams' help to keep that idea at bay
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  Speaker 2: and to keep.
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  Speaker 3: A newspaper's hands out of Twiggy.
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  Speaker 2: Now, I'm not 100% sure that's the case, but these
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  Speaker 2: are the sort of incredible rumours that start swirling around
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  Speaker 2: these characters on these sorts of days.
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  Speaker 1: They're so interesting, these West Australian billionaires, Kerry Stokes, Andrew
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  Speaker 1: Forrest and Gina Reinhart. I think, you know, you could
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  Speaker 1: probably say that Andrew Forrest is on the left wing
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  Speaker 1: end of the spectrum in terms of political thought. He's
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  Speaker 1: more woke than the others, although, of course, he is
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  Speaker 1: a mining billionaire. I run Australia's highest growth company, highest
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  Speaker 1: shareholder return company in Australia's stock exchange history.
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  Speaker 4: And we're going fully green because it's good business.
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  Speaker 1: And that Kerry Stokes is somewhere in the middle. Vote
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  Speaker 1: for Luke. Liberal, vote Labor, vote Greens, but don't vote
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  Speaker 1: for these fringe dwellers because they're destroying our whole process.
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  Speaker 1: And that Gina Reinhardt is pretty conservative.
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  Speaker 3: There's no one more right-wing than Gina, I reckon, in
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  Speaker 3: this country.
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  Speaker 1: I was trying to be so diplomatic, but... She'd admit that.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, she's proud of that. She's proud of her values.
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  Speaker 1: She's lent her jet to Pauline Hanson. If you are
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  Speaker 1: going to try and say that, you know, I'm being
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  Speaker 1: funded by Gina Reinhardt, the answer is no. She has
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  Speaker 1: been a supporter of Advance Australia and I think she's
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  Speaker 1: been pretty vocal about her views about traditional Australian values
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  Speaker 1: as she would see it.
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  Speaker 4: There are many, many businesses that fail. And I think
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  Speaker 4: that if you're interested in just doing this part-time work-life balance,
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  Speaker 4: not working public holidays or weekends, as I said, there's many,
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  Speaker 4: many businesses that fail. So starting a business mightn't be
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  Speaker 4: the best for you. I mean, I only wish there
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  Speaker 4: was less government tape because that makes it a lot
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  Speaker 4: easier for people starting and running businesses.
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  Speaker 1: Ideological kind of tone of the West Australian, the Sunday Times,
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  Speaker 1: which are the newspapers, Seven Network and the radio assets,
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  Speaker 1: Triple M and the Hit Network and Listener, the podcast network.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, none of those are particularly ideologically strong in
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  Speaker 1: either direction, are they? It's not like the Sydney Morning
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  Speaker 1: Herald and The Age, whose critics would say are pretty
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  Speaker 1: woke and left-wing and progressive people. I mean, if Gina
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  Speaker 1: Reinhart did have an idea of exerting some kind of
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  Speaker 1: editorial control, what would that be?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I don't think any newspaper in this country
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  Speaker 2: is necessarily too conservative for Gina. And I'm even talking,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the conservative newspapers that we know well, the
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  Speaker 2: business-focused publications, they're probably still not conservative enough for Gina.
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  Speaker 3: So I think there's, look, she's already got a commercial relationship.
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  Speaker 2: She's had a commercial relationship with Hancock Prospecting and Advertising
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  Speaker 2: you know, with the West. I'm not saying that she's
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  Speaker 2: about to take it over and then, you know, be
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  Speaker 2: in the newsroom every day, because that would drag her
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  Speaker 2: away from spending time at Mar-a-Lago, which is another place
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  Speaker 2: that she likes to go to. So look, I think that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, she'd certainly like some conservative coverage out there.
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  Speaker 2: She has political bent, as we know now, you know,
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  Speaker 2: when it comes to, you know, next elections, but whether
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  Speaker 2: they're state-based or the federal one in a couple of years' time.
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  Speaker 2: So she has a certain view of the world that
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  Speaker 2: she would like to be seen to be out there
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  Speaker 2: more often. Now, look, whether she'd go all the way
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  Speaker 2: and actually take her business over, I think that's an
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  Speaker 2: unanswered question. She's certainly got enough money, right? She's got
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  Speaker 2: enough money to take 10% of it herself. She doesn't
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  Speaker 2: need Bruce McWilliam for that. So there's some sort of
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  Speaker 2: ducks and drakes going on here, I think, with what's
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  Speaker 2: going on in the background. But she has a certain
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  Speaker 2: view of the world and she believes that view is
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  Speaker 2: right and she'd like to see more of it out there.
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  Speaker 1: Bruce McWilliam is an intriguing personality. I think most journalists
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  Speaker 1: in Australia have received an angry call or a text
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  Speaker 1: from Bruce at some point over the years, usually very
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  Speaker 1: strongly defending Seven's interests in the days when Kerry Stokes
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  Speaker 1: was the main owner of the network. He was kind
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  Speaker 1: of the attack dog really of Channel 7, wasn't he?
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  Speaker 1: And if you were doing a story that was in
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  Speaker 1: any way critical of Seven, you'd get a furious call
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  Speaker 1: from Bruce. What do you think he's up to?
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  Speaker 2: I've once been the recipient of some advice that went
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  Speaker 2: to a former boss of mine, where Bruce recommended me
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  Speaker 2: for a redundancy program that was going at the time.
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  Speaker 2: But no, look, Bruce, I think, also sees an undervalued asset, right?
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  Speaker 2: The Southern Cross share price has been going down. He
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  Speaker 2: is a big believer in free-to-air television.
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  Speaker 3: He knows Seven so well.
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  Speaker 2: He loves that place, right? He really, really does. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I think there's a bit of nostalgia involved. Bruce is
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  Speaker 2: making good money in Sydney real estate, seems to be
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  Speaker 2: doing up half of the eastern suburbs at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: He's doing very well.
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  Speaker 2: Being in the media what he wants eventually is a
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  Speaker 2: board seat at southern cross he actually wants to be
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  Speaker 2: chairman i think as well he's got some plans there
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  Speaker 2: i've got no doubt he's probably sending messages left right
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  Speaker 2: and center to people that are you know in at
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  Speaker 2: seven now giving them ideas giving them his view of
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  Speaker 2: the world as well so look he wants to be
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  Speaker 2: involved he wants back in he loves it and i
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  Speaker 2: don't think he can see uh you know part of
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  Speaker 2: his life where it doesn't involve.
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  Speaker 1: Seven And finally, John, what is Kerry Stokes doing? Is
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  Speaker 1: he really retired? Is he behind the scenes of this
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  Speaker 1: Bruce William thing? How does the Gina intervention reshape our
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  Speaker 1: perception of that if it does?
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  Speaker 3: Look, they have to be very careful, right?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, seven group holdings, which is the listed entity,
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  Speaker 2: still has 20% in Southern Cross, but he can't be
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  Speaker 2: seen to be, and Bruce can't be seen to be,
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  Speaker 2: you know, consorting with him as well. So they can't
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  Speaker 2: be seen to be in concert with each other. They've
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  Speaker 2: got to be independent. There's some tax implications to that,
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  Speaker 2: why they have to be, you know, stay apart. I
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  Speaker 2: think they have so far. I think the wrinkle with
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  Speaker 2: that is that, you know, Kerry clearly loves Severn as well, right?
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  Speaker 2: I've got no doubt about that. You know, even if
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  Speaker 2: he said he's out now, he's not the chairman anymore.
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  Speaker 2: Does Ryan Stokes like it as much as Kerry does?
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  Speaker 2: I don't think so. You know, what does that mean
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  Speaker 2: for the future? I suspect that, you know, Ryan sees
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  Speaker 2: it as a very, very small part of the family
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  Speaker 2: assets these days, but, you know, probably still 99% of
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  Speaker 2: its problems.
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  Speaker 1: Zooming out, John, I know I said that was finally,
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  Speaker 1: but I was lying. We as journos, we care a lot,
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  Speaker 1: of course, about what they might call legacy media assets, newspapers,
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  Speaker 1: radio stations. TV stations. These are where journalists are employed
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  Speaker 1: and we get to do the kind of journalism that
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  Speaker 1: we believe in. Is the intervention of another billionaire into
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  Speaker 1: the media landscape in Australia in this way and the
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  Speaker 1: intervention of Bruce McWilliam a good thing for journalism, do
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  Speaker 1: you think? Are they the kind of people who would
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: be replacing journos with AI chatbots or not?
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  Speaker 3: I'm not sure that Bruce knows what AI is, actually.
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  Speaker 2: I can only imagine what his text messages would be
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  Speaker 2: like if he uses it. I don't think so. Look,
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  Speaker 2: they're very passionate people about the media. Now, if that
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  Speaker 2: means that they're going to invest in it or find
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  Speaker 2: some sort of investment, then I think it's good.
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  Speaker 3: Look, I mean, overarching, though, free-to-air, it's a tough game, right?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, what rates these days sport and big events and,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: you know, some other big shows, and.
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  Speaker 3: That's about it. It's really tough.
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  Speaker 2: What headway can they make in turning that around? I'm
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  Speaker 2: not too sure, but at least they're passionate about it
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  Speaker 2: and they do have very deep pockets. But as you know, Claire,
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  Speaker 2: billionaires don't like to lose money.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Do you think it will have any implications for
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  Speaker 1: your annual The List Australia's Richest 250?
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  Speaker 2: I think it's a very, very small part of Gina's
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  Speaker 2: asset base. She has a lot of shares these days
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  Speaker 2: in a whole bunch of things, including Trump media, by
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  Speaker 2: the way. So she's still dabbling in the media from
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  Speaker 2: time to time.
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  Speaker 1: John Stenzel, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks, Claire.
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: John Stenzelt is The Australian's lists editor and covers business,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: billionaires and big deals every day at theaustralian.com.au and The
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Australian's