I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet today, the Ngunnawal people, and I pay my respects to Elders past and present.

I also acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the many regions in which BHP operates across Australia. We are proud to work in partnership with Indigenous communities, and we recognise their deep connections to country.

It’s good to be back in Canberra for Minerals Week.

We’re here at a critical moment, as resource sector leaders and policy makers confront the twin challenges of securing Australia’s long‑term prosperity and competitiveness while navigating increasing global volatility.

There is a core truth in this debate that will be familiar to everyone in this room.

Australia’s economic strength is inseparable from the strength of its mining sector.

Mining matters.

It is how Australia turns natural advantage into national strength, supporting investment, jobs and growth across the economy.

The revenue our sector generates underwrites the essential services Australians rely on every day: Medicare, superannuation, schools, roads.

Mining also delivers some of the highest average wages in the Australian economy, particularly in regional areas.

For this to continue as the strength we all enjoy today, we need to look inward at our investment environment here in Australia, as well as looking outward to what competing districts and nations are doing.

A Changed Global Landscape: Volatility, Security and Power

The global resource and energy landscape has fundamentally changed.

We are not in a period of temporary disruption. We are in a period of structural volatility.

Geopolitical fragmentation has repositioned resources and energy from traded commodities into instruments of national power.

In this environment, resource and energy security & affordability, have overtaken supply‑chain decarbonisation as the dominant policy priority in many major economies.

This shift has real implications for investment decisions, and for the pace and pathways of decarbonisation in Australia.

It is this intersection between competitiveness, and the pathway to decarbonise our operations that I want to focus on today.

For Australia, this creates two realities we need to hold together.

On the one hand, we are a clear beneficiary of the global energy transition and continued economic growth globally.

Demand for the commodities we produce - copper, iron ore, metallurgical coal, lithium and others - is rising structurally, driven by electrification, energy security and growth.

On the other hand, decarbonising our operations is a clear imperative to solve for to both meet our commitments and ensure long term invest-ability.

The task before us is to navigate both realities: capturing the opportunity while managing the transition.

Australia’s Opportunity: Resources Powering the Energy Transition

The resources we produce are indispensable to the global energy transition.

Without mining, there is no energy transition.

Global demand for the commodities that enable electrification and economic growth is accelerating, led by copper.

Every solar farm, electric vehicle, transmission line and data centre depends on it. Global demand for copper is forecast to increase by around 70 per cent by 2050.

This demand is structural, not cyclical. It is driven by long‑term changes in how the global economy produces and consumes energy, at a time when supply constraints are tightening in many jurisdictions.

Countries that can develop large‑scale, reliable and cost‑competitive supply will be advantaged. Those that cannot will forgo investment, jobs and long‑term revenue.

Australia is well placed in this contest. We have the resources, the geology, the infrastructure and the skills to be a preferred supplier to the global energy transition.

At BHP, we see South Australia at the centre of that opportunity.

Today, Copper South Australia produces around 316,000 tonnes of copper each year, which equates to a little over 1 per cent of the global copper cathode market.

We are on a pathway toward around 500,000 tonnes of annual production by the mid‑2030s, with potential to double that by the late 2030s.

Capturing this opportunity depends on investment decisions made now, and on whether Australia can compete for capital against other jurisdictions that are moving quickly.

Competing for Capital: How Australia Stacks Up

Large, long‑life resource projects compete globally for funding. Investors compare jurisdictions on risk, returns and the ability to execute.

Australia’s competitiveness challenge is now well understood across business and government, and I welcome the Prime Minister’s and Treasurer’s focus since the election on bringing productivity to the fore of the policy debate.

A recent study commissioned by the Business Council of Australia ranked Australia 21st out of 42 countries in 2025, down from 17th in 2019.

Likely we all agree, this is not a winning strategy, and we can and should do better.

Being 21 out of 42 would have never given us sporting greats like Ash Barty or Cathy Freeman, and we should not accept it as measure of our economic strength.

Because in any competitive sport, the ladder matters.

It is not a judgement on effort or potential. It is a snapshot of performance.

And in a tighter global contest for capital, the middle of the table is where investment decisions start to drift elsewhere.

The study highlights headwinds to investment in Australia, including business taxation and the complexity and timeframes associated with regulation and approvals.

Solving for energy sits at the centre of this challenge.

Energy is a system input. It shapes costs, enables technology and underpins productivity.

The test for Australia is whether we can deliver energy that is affordable, reliable and secure, while keeping faith with our commitment to net zero.

Australia has natural advantages in commodities, but unless we improve our competitiveness, investment dollars will increasingly be directed elsewhere.

The Other Side of the Debate: Decarbonisation Is Harder Than It Looks

The other side of the debate, reaching net zero by 2050 and decarbonising the Australian economy, has also shifted over the past five years.

Progress has been uneven. In some jurisdictions momentum has slowed, while in others, particularly China, electrification has advanced rapidly.

Globally, power generation from low‑carbon sources continues to increase, with solar the single largest contributor. Australia has seen one of the steepest rises, with renewables making up more than a third of total electricity generation in 2024.

But when we step back beyond electricity and passenger vehicles, the challenge becomes far harder.

Decarbonising large industrial sectors depends on technologies that are not yet commercially viable at scale, rely on immature supply chains, or lack established markets.

In mining, diesel displacement in large‑scale haulage and fugitive emissions from coal mining remain technically and commercially difficult to address at scale. Together, they sit at the heart of the sector’s decarbonisation challenge.

That gap between ambition and execution is where the real work now sits.

What It Takes in Practice: Technology, Trials and Capital Discipline

Turning ambition into reality depends on what happens on the ground in our operations, not just on targets or timetables.

Progress relies on three things.

First: advancing the technology.

Many of the solutions needed to materially reduce emissions in our sector are still in development and must be proven safe, reliable and commercially viable before deployment at scale can happen.

Second: building the supply chains.

New technologies need progressive de-risking to scale. Progress depends on close collaboration between equipment manufacturers, energy providers and infrastructure partners.

Third: capital discipline.

These investments are significant and long‑dated, and they must meet clear return thresholds over time. Technical feasibility alone is not enough. Investments must demonstrate a credible pathway to value creation, competitiveness and shareholder returns.

That is why sequencing, staging and learning through trials matters. It allows us to reduce risk, build confidence and allocate capital responsibly as technologies mature.

There is also a broader responsibility that comes with the scale of the resources industry.

For many of the technologies needed to decarbonise mining, there is no mature market waiting on the sidelines.

These solutions will only become commercially viable if there is real demand to pull them through.

That means miners progressing trials, investing alongside partners, and creating the operating proof points that give equipment manufacturers, energy providers and supply chains the confidence to scale.

This is how markets are built in practice: through early deployment, learning and iteration, not by waiting for perfect solutions to arrive fully formed.

At BHP, we are trialling battery electric haul trucks at Jimblebar in the Pilbara, alongside battery‑electric heavy haul locomotives across our rail network.

These trials are deliberately focused on safety, design, charging requirements, power demand and operability in real operating conditions.

But for these efforts to scale and endure, they have to be enabled by a system that is designed to support long‑term investment, not work against it.

What Policy Can Enable (and What It Must Understand)

Policy can also play an important role in accelerating decarbonisation, when it is designed as part of a mutually re‑enforcing system that supports long‑term investment.

Decarbonisation at scale depends on the alignment of approvals, infrastructure, energy availability, fiscal and regulatory certainty, and workforce capability.

At the Federal level, there is constructive work underway.

None more so than the conclusion of the Australia‑European Union Free Trade Agreement today. And I congratulate Minister Farrell for this significant achievement.

Reforms to the EPBC Act aimed at reducing approval timelines and increasing certainty are an important part of improving system performance.

Engagement on the Safeguard Mechanism matters, when settings reflect technology readiness and phased investment.

Stable fiscal settings, including the Government’s commitment not to change the Fuel Tax Credit, provide predictability for long‑term decisions.

But to remain competitive in a tighter global contest for capital, there are areas where Australia still needs to lift.

Business taxation, regulatory complexity and the cumulative cost of compliance remain material headwinds for large, long‑life investments.

These settings matter because capital is mobile, and it is not viable to both invest in the technologies and supply chains required to decarbonised, while being penalised with excessive taxation in parallel.

Making the system work also extends beyond regulation.

Our work with the South Australian and Federal governments on the Northern Water Project shows how coordinated planning can unlock enabling infrastructure.

Good system design must also reflect operating reality. Mining happens in remote locations, with infrastructure gaps, weather extremes and workforce constraints. Those conditions matter when policy is designed to work in practice.

Closing: Competitiveness and Net Zero Are Not Opposites

As we think about what comes next, one point should be clear.

Australia’s success in a more volatile and competitive world will be shaped by how well we turn opportunity into execution.

Australia is a clear beneficiary of growing global demand for the resources the world needs. But capturing that opportunity is not automatic. It depends on whether we can compete for capital, deliver projects and execute at scale.

At the same time, maintaining our competitiveness depends on decarbonising the resources sector. If we do not, we risk eroding the very advantage that strong demand creates. That is the balance we need to hold.

This will not be delivered by ambition alone. It depends on technologies that work at scale, investments that meet clear return thresholds, and policy settings that support execution.

Capital discipline is not a constraint on progress. It is what makes progress durable.

Mining helped build modern Australia.

The choices we make now, on energy, on investment and on competitiveness, will shape what comes next.