Make Rinehart Aussie of Year: Bernardi

Roll this off your tongue: Gina Rinehart for Australian of the Year.

That's if conservative Liberal Cory Bernardi ever has his wish fulfilled.

"It's probably not politically correct to nominate a person like Gina Rinehart for Australian of the Year," Senator Bernardi says in his latest newsletter.

"But in my mind she deserves the honour."

Senator Bernardi believes there are many reasons why his friend the mining magnate should be bestowed the annual privilege.

He related Ms Rinehart's "inspirational" story of having inherited a debt-laden company which she turned around as a widowed mother of four.

She'd paid $2.3 billion in taxes in just the past four years and donated tens of millions to worthy causes.

"This is a lady to whom wonderful opportunities were given," the South Australian senator explains.

"But they were only opportunities; it took her determination, hard work and strength of character to turn them into realities."