Gina Rinehart wears $4m outfit after Netball Australia sponsorship scandal
Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest person, has stepped out in an outfit estimated to cost close to $4 million.
Attending the CEO Magazine 2022 Executive Of The Year Awards in Sydney on Wednesday, alongside her company Hancock Prospecting’s chief executive Garry Korte, Ms Rinehart wore an elaborate and expensive pearl and sapphire necklace, and $1600 bejewelled Dolce & Gabbana thongs.
The rare oversized pearls are said to be from Margot McKinney, which uses Australian South Sea pearls that are meticulously graded.
No two pearls are the same and creating a strand requires extreme precision and expertise.
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The necklace appears to be the company’s ‘Once in a Blue moon’ piece, which has been branded the “life’s work of a pearl farmer”.
“The mighty Maxima Pinctada oyster that produces these finest of Pearls has to be at its most mature to produce a pearl of this size, and then so very few pearls are perfectly round and blemish free with a perfect lustre,” a description of the necklace on the Margot McKinney website reads.
“This is why this strand of pearls could only be created after 10 years of harvests and sorting through literally millions of pearls.
“This is a true wonder of nature, rare and important and destined to a family heirloom and treasure.”
A $3.8 million price tag was attached to the piece when Ms McKinney spoke about the necklace at the Mercedes-Benz Brisbane Fashion Festival in 2017.
“This really is the most incredible piece,” she told Nine.
“You have to wait years to have the right oysters that can make pearls this size.”
Mrs Rinehart recently made headlines for withdrawing her $15 million sponsorship of Netball Australia – which has now been picked up by the Victorian Government.
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The saga began after it emerged that Diamonds players were concerned about wearing a team uniform that included sponsorship branding from Hancock Prospecting.
It is understood Indigenous player Donnell Wallam did not feel comfortable wearing a uniform with the logo as a result of shocking comments made by Ms Rinehart’s late father Lang Hancock in the 1980s, when he infamously suggested that Indigenous Australians should be sterilised to “breed themselves out” in coming years.
Hancock Prospecting issued a blistering statement slamming “virtue signalling” by sports teams after sensationally tearing up the $15 million deal.
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