The speech Mr BHP should...

The speech Mr BHP should give

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Thespeech Mr BHP should give

JanetAlbrechtsenFollow @jkalbrechtsen

7-9 minutes

Illustration: EricLobbecke

I am the chiefexecutive of BHP. For a brief moment last

week, I thoughtabout giving a speech in London to an august

crowd, some lordsand ambassadors and other masters of

the universe. It’snot as neat as rubbing shoulders with

celebrities atDavos, but that mountain soiree is six months

away. I thoughtabout announcing that BHP will appoint itself

as the moralguardian of greenhouse emissions, dictating to

our customers howthey use our products to reduce

emissions.

I imagined feeling afrisson of excitement when sections of

the media and theclimate-in-crisis activists laud my landmark

address when I alsoannounce that BHP will commit

hundreds of millionsof dollars, shareholders’ money, to

monitor what ourcustomers do with the coal they buy from

us. I will ignorecynics who may think I’m after a personal

halo.

Then I shook offsuch nonsense. As the CEO of BHP, my first

duty is to ourshareholders, meaning all of them. How feeble I

would have lookedsuccumbing to a small rowdy bunch of

activist investorswho think they can tell us what to do over

and above ourmillions of quiet shareholders.

I decided thatjoining the herd is too easy, too predictable,

and maybe people areright to think it a bit sneaky to spend

other people’smoney to buy personal cachet. I decided to

leave that tosomeone who craves adulation, rather than

respect.

What follows is myactual speech. I should have given it long

ago, in Australia,because BHP is still “the Big Australian”.

Our history andheadquarters are in this country, and so the

hard work must starthere.

“Good morning,ladies and gentlemen. It is a pleasure to be

here today to talkabout BHP’s response to critical issues

affecting ourcompany, this country, and the global economy.

It is time for me,as chief executive of BHP, to take the lead. I

cannot remain silentany more. Too much is at stake. To the

climate changeactivists who want me to speak about a

climate crisis, andspend shareholders’ money on it, I say

there is anothercrisis I must deal with first. And it won’t cost

shareholders a dime.

The challenge isclear and present: there is a crisis of

confidence aboutcapitalism. It is on the nose, and so are big

companies. The lossof legitimacy in big companies means

that fundamentals ofbusiness and capitalism are more highly

contestable thanthey have been for decades. What were

once accepted astruths — that businesses create jobs and

that small and bigbusinesses work together to drive

economic growth —are controversial because of sustained

attacks byideological opponents. Not to mention an

education systemthat is failing to properly educate our

students.

Those who bash bigbusiness and free markets won’t be

defeated bycorporate bosses whining privately about populist

politicians,dimwitted voters and left-wing activists.

As BHP’s boss, Imust stand up to defend the story of

capitalism. Ourfuture as a company depends on the next

generationunderstanding that free enterprise is critical to

their future.

I hope othercorporate leaders will join in this existential

battle. Freeenterprise, the success of companies, big and

small, are integralto human flourishing. Capitalism is not

perfect but, asWinston Churchill said about democracy, it is a

damned sight betterthan the alternatives.

The history ofcapitalism is one of lifting billions of people

from poverty,providing standards of living that earlier

generations couldnever have dreamt of.

People are livinglonger because of medical advances. Peopl‐

e are bettereducated, wealthier, more mobile, moving up

income levels andacross cities and countries. There is an

extraordinary arrayof technology at our fingertips.

All of this comesfrom a set of values that drive free

enterprise. If welose confidence in those values, in open and

free markets, welose the key to our present and future

prosperity.

I commit toreminding people of the morality of free markets.

As CEO, it is myrole to explain why profit matters to BHP, to

our shareholders,those ordinary Australians who save and

invest in theirfuture, either directly or through funds that

invest in us.

I will use myprivileged position to explain and promote the

moral dimensions ofpolicies that grow our company and

create more jobs.Few corporate leaders, if any, ever speak of

the essential humandignity that comes from work. If more

people understandthat improving productivity is not just an

economic imperative,it is a moral one too, they will back

policies that createjobs. If corporate leaders like me don’t

support thesepolicies, who will?

Lower corporatetaxes, more sensible industrial relations laws

and less red tapeare far more fundamental to our future than

adding BHP’s nameto any number of feel-good social

causes.

For too long,corporate leaders have shunned these policy

debates on spuriousgrounds that we do not get involved in

politics. We makethat claim in our corporate governance

statement. It’sutter nonsense.

We get involved in,and throw shareholders’ money at, an

array of highlycontestable social causes. The Voice? How

can we, as corporateleaders, justify taking sides on an issue

that is an intenselypolitical, its consequences unknown, yet

we did nothing whenthere was a concrete proposal to abolish

tax refunds for ourshareholders.

That dereliction ofduty will not happen again under my

watch.Virtue-signalling about social issues that are far more

contested than wecare to admit ends today. I commit to

redrafting BHP’scorporate governance statement to make

this new directionabundantly clear.

On that score, thenext time another small, noisy group of

activists tries tohijack the ASX corporate governance

principles, imposingpages of social engineering baloney, I

will speak out.

Last time ithappened, our silence created an opening for

those interferingactivists who do not value free enterprise.

We left it to othersto defeat the dangerous frolic that would

have guaranteed aone-size-fits-all corporate mediocrity.

Mediocre companiesdo not survive in a globally competitive

world. Today, Icommit to showing leadership about how and

by whom BHP is run.

Nowhere is themorality of free markets more obvious than

when it comes tocheap and reliable energy. Our economy,

our localbusinesses, existing and new jobs, our living

standards depend oncheap and reliable energy. That means

there is a futurefor coal.

It is one of thegreat moral challenges of our time to provide

cheap energy tocountries less fortunate than ours.

Cheap energy hasalready lifted billions of people out of

poverty, improvedtheir life chances.

Let me end thisaddress by making it clear that we are a

proud exporter ofcoal, and we will not engage in rich-country

hypocrisy thatpresumes to tell other countries they cannot

enjoy the sameadvantages that have made us rich. Thank

you.”

Columnist

Sydney

Janet Albrechtsen isan opinion columnist with The

Australian. She hasworked as a solicitor in commercial law,

and attained aDoctorate of Juridical Studies from the

University ofSydney. She has written for n... Read more