Madeleine King accuses BHP of opposing Labor policies, not working with unions

Resources Minister Madeleine King has gone to war with BHP in an extraordinary spray, attacking the mining giant for always ‘railing against’ Labor policies and refusing to work productively with unions.

Resources Minister Madeleine King addressing a Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA event on Thursday night. Inset: BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery. Picture: The West Australian

Resources Minister Madeleine King has gone to war with BHP in an extraordinary spray, attacking one of Australia’s biggest tax­payers and employers for always “railing against” Labor policies and refusing to work productively with union leaders.

Anthony Albanese’s most senior cabinet minister in Western Australia, a mining powerhouse state where Labor is desperate to hold seats at the next election, also took aim at what she labelled ­“hysteria” whipped up by the ­Coalition and resources figures about unions in the industry and the ­impact of Labor’s industrial ­relations crackdown.

“Yes, we are a Labor government,” Ms King said on Thursday. “The government’s bargaining ­reforms are working as intended – our reforms were designed to ­encourage employers back to the bargaining table.”

In a Q&A session following a speech to business figures in Perth spruiking the importance of gas, Ms King stunned audience members when she took aim at BHP for complaining to the media about not “liking” that the “Australian Labor Party in government will work in the interest of workers”.

Ms King – usually a pro-­industry Labor MP who holds the seat of Brand on Perth’s southern outskirts – doubled down in a news conference, saying BHP had ­“always railed against Labor policy whether in opposition or in ­government”.

“And they’re the first to go to the Murdoch press (News Corp is publisher of The Australian) to do a story around what they don’t like about what a Labor government chooses to do, and it wouldn’t matter what it is,” she said.

The attack on BHP comes ahead of the Prime Minister convening a full ministry meeting early next week in Western Australia, where mining has underpinned jobs and economic growth over generations.

BHP chief executive Mike Henry on Tuesday warned that the company’s international ­competitiveness would drop under the Albanese government’s “same job, same pay” reforms, which crack down on the use of lower-cost ­labour hire.

“Our concerns around some of the recent (IR) changes are that they flow straight through to cost with no commensurate positive impact on productivity – in fact they can pull things in the other ­direction,’ Mr Henry said after BHP reported an underlying profit of $20.22bn in the year to June.

BHP has estimated that the increase in labour costs from the “same job, same pay” reforms – which require ­labour-hire workers to be paid the same as direct ­employees – would cause a $1.3bn hit to the company each year.

Senior business leaders said no resources minister in recent history – even during the mining tax fight – had publicly gone “to war” with big miners.

Earlier in her Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA address, Ms King said: “What I want you to take away from this speech is that the Albanese Labor government understands the importance of our resources sector.”

Responding to Ms King’s spray, BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery said: “We continue to advocate for the policy settings which drive Australia’s competitiveness and enable the resources sector to thrive.”

Ms Slattery said West Australians understood how ­important mining was to the state’s prosperity. “BHP employs around 14,000 people in WA, and BHP ­operated projects contributed 11 per cent of all government ­revenue to Western Australia in FY24,” she said. “We are enormously proud to be a major contributor the schools, hospitals and other vital services on which Western Australians rely.

Ms Slattery said BHP, which was the largest taxpayer in Australia in the 2022 financial year, was committed to making “the substantial economic contribution that it does to WA and Australia”.

“Australia has a once-in-a-­generation opportunity to grasp the immense opportunities of the demand for resources in the global energy transition,” she said.

“Doing so will rely on Australia putting in place the right policy settings to enable us to keep pace with other mining nations, which are already outcompeting Australia.”

Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable said mining was “worth standing up for, and protecting”. “When Australian mining does well, so does our nation,” Ms Constable said. “The benefits flow through to every Australian, from job creation to the essential ­revenues that fund our schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. The industry’s success is Australia’s success.”

After Labor ministers claimed miners would not be captured under the government’s multi-employer bargaining laws, three coal miners were compelled by the Fair Work Commission to enter negotiations last week.

Ms Constable said Whitehaven Coal, Peabody Energy and Ulan Coal Mines had been forced to enter a joint bargaining process, which set a “dangerous precedent” heightening the risk of strikes and disruption of operations.

Under the Albanese government, major new mining projects and expansions have also been ­delayed as emboldened climate activists wage green lawfare. The government has also imposed tough new emissions-reduction rules and penalties under its ­revamped safeguard mechanism.

Business leaders and industry chiefs, concerned about souring relations with the Albanese government, are warning that companies could be forced to pull investment. Australian Bureau of Statistics data on Thursday showed a fall in non-mining investment and capital expenditure.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black said it was “no exaggeration to say ­business investment and jobs have been put at risk because of these IR changes”.

“The government said mining wouldn’t be hit by multi-employer bargaining and we’ve already seen that this assertion is untrue, with serious negative consequences for our economy,” Mr Black said.

“These industrial relations changes, cumbersome red tape and regulation across the federal and state governments mean Australia is becoming an increasingly uncompetitive place to do business.”

Mr Black said the “combined impact of several significant IR changes is taking our workplace relations system back to the 1970s”.

“Same job, same pay rules and compulsory multi-employer bargaining are anti-competitive and unduly restrict the ability of businesses and their workers to agree the best fit employment arrangements,” he said.

In her speech, Ms King talked up the importance of gas in supporting “manufacturing, food processing, refining of critical minerals and the firming of grids needed in the energy transition”.

“Australian gas, exported as LNG, will have a significant role to play in decarbonising our region and supporting energy security in the region,” she said.

With the Greens and teals demanding a ban on new gas fields, Ms King backed exploration to bring more gas to the market.

“This government understands that without reliable and affordable energy, you can’t do business,” Ms King said.

“Without adequate energy, modern societies fall apart. Without affordable and reliable energy, social licence for climate action evaporates.”