‘Sowing the seeds of hatred’: Aussie rocker Peter Garrett slammed after taunting billionaire Gina Rinehart at Perth Festival

Aussie music legend and former politician Peter Garrett has come under fire after encouraging festivalgoers to “pretend they’re dancing on Gina Rinehart’s grave”.

The former Midnight Oil frontman took to the stage at Perth Festival with his other band The Alter Egos on Friday night.

The 71-year-old told the audience to “pretend they’re dancing on Gina Rinehart’s grave” in a major dig at the billionaire mining magnate, while also slamming Woodside and US President Donald Trump, Perth Now reported.

WA Premier Roger Cook slammed Garrett’s comments, and said the singer should have known “that sort of language is completely inappropriate”.

“The arts are also there to challenge us and perhaps Peter Garrett thought that he was challenging the people of WA when he made his inappropriate comments,” Mr Cook said.

“He wasn’t, quite frankly – he was being disrespectful and sowing the sort of seeds of hatred that we do see around the place, so he’s got to stop.”

A spokesperson for Mrs Rinehart has issued a statement, labelling Garrett “an attention-seeking activist”.

“The attention-seeking activist tried to trash Mrs Rinehart in front of thousands of people, but instead he ended up trashing himself and others who think, as Premier Roger Cook has said, ‘sowing the seeds of hatred’ is okay in the name of ‘art’,” the spokesperson said.

“That being the Perth Festival spokespeople and those mainly government organisations that sponsor it.

“Plus, a corporate misusing its shareholders’ money for this, and earlier divisive woke causes.”

A Perth Festival spokesperson appeared to take no issue with the comments, and said artistic expression was personal, adding “views shared by artists are their own”.

“Perth Festival recognises that people will have many different perspectives, experiences and opinions that reflect the complexity and rich diversity of our community,” the spokesperson said.

Garrett is known for taking strong political stances, with his former band Midnight Oil shooting to stardom with political hits like Beds Are Burning and Blue Sky Mine.

The rocker even moved into politics himself, becoming the Labor Member for Kingsford in 2004 before adding Minister for Environment and Arts and Minister for School Education and Youth to his portfolio.

NewsWire has contacted Mr Garrett and Ms Rinehart for comment.