BHP has message on investment

Originally published by Editorial of The Australian

19.03.2026

 The wake-up message delivered to government by disrupted global energy markets is being amplified by big business, which needs confidence to invest. In a welcome development, the new chief executive of BHP, Brandon Craig, has wasted no time putting the Albanese government on notice that things must change. Before his appointment as chief executive on Wednesday, Mr Craig was based in the Chilean capital, Santiago, where he had responsibility for BHP’s big growth investments in copper as well as the troubled potash operations in Canada.
 
Mr Craig’s appointment to the top job follows confirmation in February that copper had overtaken iron ore as the biggest earner on BHP’s expansive global balance sheet last year. This led to warnings by former chief executive Mike Henry that Australia was sabotaging its natural advantages with onerous government regulation.

Mr Craig has promptly thrown down the gauntlet to the federal government over net-zero emissions targets, industrial relations and company tax policies. He has urged Australia to start benchmarking its policy settings and attractiveness as an investment jurisdiction against rival nations. The message is the Big Australian is a global business that has a lot of options for where its future investments can be made.

This is exactly the message the federal government needs to hear. The Albanese government has made a lot of noise about a future made in Australia. But leading corporations have started to move their multibillion-dollar investments to other countries. It follows a series of punitive decisions on royalties, market interventions on gas, heightened uncertainty about development costs and timelines caused by lawfare litigation, and tightened rules on climate reporting and investment.

Major investments can take many years to deliver and have a long horizon. Decisions made today will shape the income of governments and the standard of living for all Australians for decades to come. State and federal governments must make it clear that they are open for business in a way that helps, rather than hinders, the decision to invest.