George Campbell (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As listeners to this program this evening would be well aware, Australia is going through a major mining and resources boom, with us receiving record levels of income for our resources. This is making a major contribution to the profitability and prosperity of the Australian economy. We all know, however, how well mining companies are doing out of that boom. In fact, last month BHP Billiton, our ‘Big Australian’, posted a record $13 billion profit—a record for the company and probably a record for the country. It is obvious that workers in the mining industry are doing great work, particularly in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is hard work; it is tough work. They work in hot, dusty conditions. But they are making a major contribution to our economy, and obviously a major contribution to the wealth of BHP Billiton.

The way in which relations between employees and managers of our major companies have changed in the past 20 years or so is reflected in the experience of workers in the Pilbara, who in the last quarter were able to shift 29 million tonnes of iron ore, which played a substantial role in the profitability of BHP Billiton in the last financial year. The workers of this company were alerted that, in recognition of their contribution to the company’s profit, there was a gift on its way from Perth to workers in the Pilbara. You can picture the excitement among these workers. There was a lot of backslapping and congratulations on having achieved the record and having posted the profit that they did. You can imagine how these people reacted when they discovered what the gift was. This is a company that had just made $13 billion, and it provided a gift to its employees of a Mars bar in recognition of their contribution to the record profit of the company. It was not quite as bad as that. It was not, ‘Here’s your Mars bar; take it or leave it.’ They gave them a choice. They said, ‘You can have a Mars bar or a Snickers.’