Mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s suggestion of offering up Queensland islands to Elon Musk for launching satellites and setting up microchip manufacturing has been met with a mixed reaction from local tourism and business groups.
In a speech on Thursday, Mrs Hancock said “sparsely or non-populated” islands off North Queensland’s coast should be offered to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “at no cost” for building and launching satellites.
Tourism Whitsundays CEO Tim Booth said while the idea of giving up islands for rocket launches was a “novel” idea, there would be environmental considerations.
Tim Booth says the region’s tourism reputation depends on pristine environments. (Supplied: Tourism Whitsundays)
“We certainly get plenty of new ideas coming in every day on how to do activations [tourism events] out on our islands,” he said.
“This one, I must admit, is something I’ve never come across before.”
He said while there might be an assumption that uninhabited islands were “sitting around idle and useless”, that was not the case.
“The number one selling point for us as a destination is our natural splendour.
“Disturbing something like that for commercial gain seems like something that would be a little bit out of kilter.“
Gina Rinehart shared the stage with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson at a National Bush Summit in Townsville. (ABC North Qld: Chloe Chomicki)
But he agreed with Mrs Rinehart that any rocket launch would potentially “add a tourist attraction”.
“[Rocket] launch windows stay open for a period of time,” he said.
“What we’ve learnt is that it does draw a lot of visitors and they have a good length of stay.”
The Whitsunday region is no stranger to rocket launches.
Australian-owned company Gilmour Space Technologies launched its first rocket from Bowen in July 2025.
Gilmour Space Technologies’ “Eris” rocket launched in Bowen in July 2025. (ABC News)
CEO Adam Gilmour said securing approvals to launch rockets anywhere in Australia was a complex process.
“It was a very long, multi-year process and we had to go through more hurdles than an Olympics hurdle event,” he said.
Adam Gilmour says launching from an island would be a logistical challenge. (ABC News: Chris Gillette)
Mr Gilmour said while he understood there would be a safety benefit to launching a rocket from an island, the logistics involved would be much tougher than lifting off from the mainland.
“It’s extremely difficult to transport the vehicles out there.
“It’s so much easier when you can put in a truck, roll that out to the launch site and lift it off a crane.”
Mr Gilmour added he would welcome more investment in the Bowen Spaceport, where their rockets launch from.
“This is a great sovereign opportunity for us, so I’d love it if she could help us as well.”
Wind towers scorned
Several renewables projects have been proposed across the Townsville region. (Supplied: Hancock Prospecting)
Mrs Rinehart also took aim at a proposal to build wind towers near the small town of Prairie, 340 kilometres south-west of Townsville.
The 800MW Prairie Wind Farm project has received federal environmental approval and sits close to the proposed CopperString 2032 powerline, linking Townsville and Mount Isa.
In its place she suggested offering Taiwanese microchip manufacturers “free land” with a “tax holiday, an international airport to go to and from, and a port”.
Claudia Brumme-Smith says North Queensland should be “open for business and open for ideas”. (Supplied: Port of Townsville)
Mrs Rinehart also said if the land at Prairie wasn’t suitable, the region should “offer other choices nearer Townsville”.
Economic development group Townsville Enterprise said the wind resources at the site were “extraordinary”.
“We know that when energy is abundant and affordable, usually industry comes and settles there,” CEO Claudia Brumme-Smith said.
She said the group “wasn’t prescriptive” about what the land should be used for but said she welcomed the “blue-sky thinking”.
The Queensland government has announced it will spend $420 million on the CopperString project over the next 12 months. (Supplied: CopperString 2.0)
“I think Gina has really shaken us up a bit and is really thinking outside the box, and that’s what these forums are all about.”
Meanwhile the Townsville Chamber of Commerce said any proposal for chip-manufacturing should go through a feasibility study.
“If the numbers stack up, we’d welcome any sort of investment that shores up manufacturing in North Queensland,” president Kevin Booth said.
Mrs Rinehart mentioned Australia being a “safer substitute” for Taiwanese microchip companies.
“It just comes down to ensuring that all relevant stakeholders get to put their thoughts forward,” Mr Booth said.
“Then we make sure that any sort of investment supports locals as best as possible.”
