Editing Lang Hancock (section)

==Political activity==
Although Lang Hancock never aspired to political office, he held strong [[conservative]] political views and often entered the political arena.  In addition to his activities in the 1950s, lobbying against government restrictions on the mining of iron ore, Hancock [[Political donations in Australia|donated]] considerable sums of money to politicians of many political stripes.  His political views aligned most closely with the [[Liberal Party of Australia|Liberal]] and [[National Party of Australia|National]] [[Parties of Australia]].  He was a good friend and strong supporter of [[Queensland]] [[Premier of Queensland|Premier]] [[Joh Bjelke-Petersen]] and donated A$632,000 to the Queensland National Party while Bjelke-Petersen was in charge. He gave A$314,000 to their counterparts in Western Australia, but also gave the Western [[Australian Labor Party]] A$985,000; because "at least they can't do any harm". Hancock had had a falling-out with [[Sir Charles Court]] and the Western Australian Liberals and was adamant that the Liberals should be kept out of power as long as possible.<ref name="age-millions">{{cite news |title=Why Hancock Gave Millions For Nothing |author=Light, Deborah |work=The Age |location=Australia |date=6 June 1991 }}</ref>

Hancock also offered strong advice to the politicians he favoured.  In 1977 he sent a [[Teleprinter|Telex]] to the then-[[Treasurer of Australia]] Sir [[Phillip Lynch]], telling him he needed to "stop money coming in to finance subversive activities, such as [[Friends of the Earth]], which is a well-heeled foreign operation."  He also suggested to Bjelke-Petersen that the Federal Government should attempt to censor the works of [[Ralph Nader]] and [[John Kenneth Galbraith]], lest they "wreck [[Malcolm Fraser|Fraser]]'s government".

In 1969 Hancock and his partner Peter Wright commenced publication in Perth of a weekly newspaper, [[Sunday Independent (Western Australia)|''The Sunday Independent'']], principally to help further their mining interests. Faced with strong competition, the newspaper is thought never to have turned a profit, Hancock largely relinquishing his interest in it in the early 70s and Wright selling it to [[The Truth (Melbourne newspaper)|''The Truth'']] in 1984.

Hancock was a staunch proponent of [[small government]] and resented what he considered to be interference by the Commonwealth Government in Western Australian affairs.  He declared before a state [[Royal Commission]] in 1991 that "I have always believed that the best government is the least government", and that "Although governments do not and cannot positively help business, they can be disruptive and destructive."<ref name="afr-tycoon">{{cite news |title=Hancock: The Enigmatic Tycoon |author=Beyer, Mark |work= [[The Australian Financial Review]] |date = 30 March 1992 }}</ref>

Hancock bankrolled an unsuccessful secessionist party in the 1970s,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.sailplanes.com.au/sail-planes-articles/1994/2/20/west-of-a-greater-divide/ |title=West of a Greater Divide? |author=Walker, Frank |work=[[The Sun-Herald]] |location=Australia |date=20 February 1994 |accessdate=10 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402093631/http://www.sailplanes.com.au/sail-planes-articles/1994/2/20/west-of-a-greater-divide/ |archive-date=2 April 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and in 1979 published a book, ''Wake Up Australia'', outlining what he saw as the case for [[Secessionism in Western Australia|Western Australian secession]].  The book was launched by Gina Rinehart and Bjelke-Petersen.