Oliver Peterson: Australian correspondent on BHP staff confirming strike will take place this week

Hundreds of BHP workers will  walk off the job at Port Hedland on July 16, after talks with the mining giant broke down.

Between 150-200 workers represented by the Combined Ports Unions are expected to down tools in what could be the Western Australian mining industry's most significant industrial action for a quarter of a century.

Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says plans are in place to try and get the strike called off before Thursday.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with ends and Eye Insurance, Peace of mind
for New Zealand business. Ami Peterson out a perth day.
How are you, Alie?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I'm good Andrew, how are you very good?

Speaker 1 (00:11):
So Albertizi has been talking about AI, says that Australia
has got to lead rather than just reacting to the thing.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
So yeah, he'll do a major speech on Wednesday, prempted
by the opposition today calling on a bit of leadership
for the Prime minister. So that's coming. So they just
want to try and get their two cents in there.
But effectively, the government's take quite a hands off approach
to artificial intelligence, but now it's decided that it is
time to try and put in some sort of barriers
and rules, if that's even possible, and just how that's
going to affect not just artificial intelligence but obviously the

(00:42):
employment market here at Australia. So we don't know exactly
what the PM is going to say on Wednesday, but
he is going to obviously make this now a priority
of his government. Of course, we do know that the
social media band was something leading here out of Australia
at the moment for younger Australians. So where that this
will go in to the regulatory territory that is going

(01:02):
to start to make it a little more difficult to
use AI. We'll have to wait and hear what the
PM has to say.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, but he's just conforming with international trends. Donald Trump
wants to their government to spend an awful lot of
money on AI because if you don't actually get involved
at a state level, then the businesses take over and
before you know it your hostage.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Pretty true, And I mean you just look at how
it's evolving all of our workplaces as it is at
the moment. It's a day by day proposition, Andrew, and
I don't even know if you can rain these sorts
of things in all right, now.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
You're already the lucky country, but you're about to get
even luckier. Apparently the biggest iron ore striking decades is
within your fingertips.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, look, this will be thirst. I hear in Western
Australia where I am, so workers from BHP in the
pilbro Up Nearport Headland are going to walk off the
job for eight hours. The claim is this is going
to cost about one hundred and twenty million dollars in
iron ore shipments out of Australia, and of course our
biggest customer is China, and not just this state, but
the entire country is basically powered on the fact that

(02:00):
our iron ore is the best in the world and
our major customer is China. So you can understand that
there are a few nervous people regarding this. It's so
rare to have a strike in the Pilburg I think
it's been thirty years andrews into strike effectively to other
paying conditions. Of course, the big miners are making lots
and lots of money and the workers want more, and
there's some who are saying that they're not all paid
the same. They wanted about two hundred thousand Australian dollars

(02:21):
a year. And if you think that sounds like a
low money, which yeah it is, don't get me wrong.
But obviously try and work fifo in fifty degree heat
in summer, it's pretty tough. So we'll see what happens
with that. But they're trying to get the Industrial Umpire
involved tomorrow to stop these strikes going ahead. Industry claiming
that if it does go ahead, then China might look
elsewhere and then the nation's completely doomed.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, okay, meanwhile and made the news here now you've
got digital passenger cards at the airport.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, just how to quick look at the date. It
is twenty twenty six, which is good to see that
we have finally caught up basically with the rest of
the world, that we're going to get rid of those
paper cards. Honestly, the questions you have to ask on
those cards come in and out of Australia, it's kind
of ridiculous these days. So this is going to roll
out within the country everywhere within the next eighteen to
twenty four months, cost of about fifty million dollars. There's
already been trials between particularly out two countries recently Andrews.

(03:12):
So I'm sure lots of key Wes who've been coming
over to Australia and vice aversa have noticed just how
easy it has become, particularly into places like Brisbane, Sydney
and Melbourne, to get in and out just a little faster.
So it just seems as though finally Australia's catching up
with there's the world. Although what happens if we go
to New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
No, we wait to see what you guys do and
then we decided to do it later and then we
vote against us. So hey, just what I got you here?
I just want to like to thank the Wallabies for
making the all backs look good by getting done by France,
a team that we actually beat. So yeah, thank you
so much.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Thanks. James Slipper came on and tried to sort
of like it looked like he was playing outside center.
He's just done, He's got it. Hire. That was really frustrating,
right because I go back a week ago the Irish game.
We were good and we all should have won that.
France last weekend bad. Italy's here in Perth this weekend.
I was gonna go. I'm not gonna go anymore. I'm
gonna get smashed. I'm off the Wallabies.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
Okay. And you heard it first from Oli Peterson from
six pr and Perth. Great great patriots and not not
a fair weather friend at all.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
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