Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart has attacked Australia's "entitlement mentality" and called on the nation's leaders to emulate former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

In a feature article for the current edition of Australian Resources and Investment, Mrs Rinehart wrote Australia is facing a future of government debt due largely to its $130 billion annual welfare bill.

"This 'age of entitlement' and its consequences is creating problems for all of us, our children and our grandchildren. Strong leadership will be the key," she said.

Mrs Rinehart's example of strong leadership is the late Thatcher, known as the Iron Lady.

"Our political leaders are fortunate to have a leader they can emulate, a leader who well understood fundamental economic matters, critical for all countries and their standards of living," Mrs Rinehart said.

"Margaret Thatcher took courageous decisions in the interests of Britain, despite the obvious noisy detractors.

"Thatcher steered through a lack of courage in her own political party, which had become riddled with lefties or 'non-courageous wets' and self-interested power mongrels, who didn't grasp or didn't want to grasp what was needed for their own country."

Thatcher is most remembered for her program of sweeping economic changes throughout the 1980s, including mass privatisation of government assets, financial market deregulation and labour law changes designed to limit the influence of trade unions.

At various points, she faced opposition from within her own party as general strikes at times crippled sections of the British economy.

Rinehart urges governments to cut 'wasteful' spending

Supporters of her policies point to a reduction in inflation and return to economic growth experienced by Britain in the 1980s, while opponents argue that other countries - including Australia - had better economic performance during the period with less dramatic shifts in policy.

Mrs Rinehart says Australia's political leaders should implement a similar policy program here.

"What Thatcher did for Britain our own leaders should do for us - cut spending, cut waste, cut the shackles and back hard workers," she said.

The mining magnate's current iron ore operations are a joint venture with Rio Tinto and operated by the Anglo-Australian mining giant.

Mrs Rinehart says senior Rio Tinto executives have told her that they are not planning to invest any more money in the Pilbara region, preferring the Orissa (now known as Odisha) region in eastern India, because Australian mining costs have become too high.

"While governments count on mining and mining related industries being prosperous, it's important that all of this is understood in the context of the need to cut the burdens of wasteful government spending, taxes, regulations and approvals - and not just talk about it," she said.

"Australia should never forget, if we want the multinationals to continue to invest their profits here, we have to put out the 'welcome mat' and provide good business reason why they should keep investing here."