Repository file
Two dollars a day
content/entries/two-dollars-a-day.md
From Can’t Explain On GitHub
title: "Two dollars a day" claim: "Gina Rinehart was pushing for Australian workers to work for two dollars a day." caption: "The 2012 sentence was about African wages. The 2026 slogan put it on an Australian payslip." status: featured example: false published: 2026-08-14T23:25:00+10:00 person: Gina Rinehart claimType: no-evidence-required year: 2026 tags: [rinehart, abc, sheppard, two-dollars, victorian-socialists, "2026"] source: url: https://www.abc.net.au/news/corrections/2026-08-14/reinhartradio/107040362 date: "2026-08-14" publisher: ABC News title: "Gina Rinehart" quote: "Hera Sheppard stated without contest that Gina Rinehart was “pushing for Australian workers to work for two dollars a day”. This was innaccurate." evidence: path: 2026/two-dollars-a-day/source.md kind: note captured: "2026-08-14"
Hera Sheppard, Victorian Socialists, ABC Radio South West Victoria, 12 August 2026. Asked about One Nation’s rise. She named Gina Rinehart, “pushing for Australian workers to work for two dollars a day.” The presenter did not contest it. Two days later the ABC’s own corrections page called the line inaccurate and said an on-air correction had gone out.
This card files that slide. It does not file “Rinehart is a friend of the worker” and it does not file “the ABC is a conspiracy.”
What did have a receipt:
- ABC, 5 September 2012, same masthead. Rinehart, Sydney Mining Club video: “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.” The lede on that page: Australians need to compete with African labour at that rate. West African iron ore, she said, was about $100 a tonne cheaper to bring on. That is a cost comparison. It is not a wage bid for Warrnambool.
- Julia Gillard answered the same day: “It’s not the Australian way to toss people a $2 gold coin.” She heard the implication in 2012. Sheppard filed it as a current Australian policy in 2026.
- The 2026 line also ties Rinehart’s money to One Nation’s poll rise. A donation is a donation. “$2 a day for Australian workers” is a different sentence.
Grammar: Africa, 2012, competitiveness. Logic: that is not “pay Australians two dollars.” Rhetoric: it went to air without contest. The correction arrived after the slogan.