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Rinehart eyes Kimberley station

Yakka Munga Station near Broome

Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart is eyeing another Kimberley station as part of a spending spree set to make her the nation's cattle queen.

Ms Rinehart is running a rule over Yakka Munga Station near Broome to add to her vast pastoral holdings.

The 189,000ha station is on the market after the financial collapse of another of WA's most prominent pastoral families.

Ms Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting announced a $65 million joint venture with Milne AgriGroup last month which gave her a 50 per cent stake in two nearby stations - Liveringa and Nerrima - that cover 470,000ha in the heart of the Kimberley.

Ms Rinehart and rival WA mining billionaire Andrew Forrest are targeting the booming Chinese market after making big investments in the cattle industry over recent months.

Yakka Munga was owned by companies controlled by the family of former Pastoralists and Graziers Association vice-president Ruth Webb-Smith before they went under with debts of more than $12 million.

It is understood Mrs Webb-Smith's son Nathan was trying to sell Yakka Munga to an overseas buyer for more than $17 million in the months before the ANZ Bank appointed receivers.

Ms Rinehart is a long-time member and supporter of the PGA, which operates out of offices it rents within the West Perth headquarters of Hancock Prospecting.

PGA president Tony Seabrook will praise Ms Rinehart for backing the cattle industry today when he gives the opening address at the association's 107th annual convention at Crown Perth.

Mr Seabrook will also lash out at politicians for failing to honour promises to cut red tape. He will warn that talk about Australia becoming a big cattle producer and food bowl for China will amount to nothing unless there is urgent action to protect its competitive edge in agriculture.

Mr Seabrook will back claims from Ms Rinehart that labour costs are too high and contributing to unsustainable rises in production costs across industry.

"Australia has allowed itself to become one of the most expensive countries in the world in which to produce and do business," he will say.

Ms Rinehart's family have maintained an interest in the pastoral industry through the 385,000ha Mulga Downs Station in the Pilbara, where she spent part of her childhood.