Brandon Craig to keep BHP spearheading mining industry’s campaign for energy and unionism policy overhaul

Brandon Craig is picking up where Mike Henry left off by channelling his energy in Australia towards pressuring the Albanese Government to slash power prices and stamp out unionism. BHP became by far the most vocal critic of federal government policy among WA’s iron ore giants during Mr Henry’s tenure and this looks set to continue under new management. “We are an Australian company, we really want to see Australia be a successful nation, and we want to see Australia deliver long term prosperity,” Mr Craig said in the first media briefing following his appointment. “What we are seeing around the world, whether it’s in Chile, Argentina, Canada or the US . . . is a lot of focus by governments on how they can create the right enabling conditions for investments. “It is very clear when you engage with countries across different parts of the world, a lot of these countries are putting across very attractive investment regimes. Australia has to compete with that.” Mr Craig specifically mentioned energy and industrial relations as two priority policy areas, echoing Mr Henry’s warnings. “Energy policy needs to be a focus, with electricity costs in Australia two or more times higher than Canada, Indonesia and other countries, and 50 to 100 per cent higher than the US,” Mr Henry said of power prices in October. Festering unionism across BHP’s iron ore mines in the Pilbara has been a particular bugbear of Mr Henry in recent times, with an “explosion” in right-of-entry requests putting considerable drain on productivity, according to the outgoing chief. BHP is building a formidable stack of chips to force the Albanese government’s hand. Earnings from BHP’s South American centric copper business last month surpassed its Pilbara iron ore arm for the first time ever. Billions of investment dollars that were once automatically earmarked for the Pilbara are now increasingly at risk of being redirected across the globe.