BHP has released its 2023 Economic Contribution Report, which indicates that through wages, dividends, supplier payments, taxes, royalties and community investments, the company has contributed $60 billion in economic value to the Australian economy in the 2022-23 financial year.
Figures disclosed in the report include:
- $19.1 billion spent with Australian suppliers, including $400 million spent with Indigenous suppliers as part of a commitment to invest $1.5 billion with Indigenous businesses by 30 June 2027
- $18 billion in taxes, royalties and other payments to Australian governments – bringing BHP’s total tax and royalty payments in Australia to over $100 billion in the past ten years
- $17.5 billion in dividends to Australian shareholders, from which more than 17 million Australians benefit – either directly as shareholders or indirectly through superannuation
- $5.3 billion in employee wages
- The BHP FutureFit Academy, launched in 2020 with a $300 million commitment to create 2,500 new traineeships and apprenticeships over five years, has to date welcomed more than 1,100 people and turned out 500 graduates who have joined BHP in permanent jobs
- $86 million in community investments
The report also showed that BHP remains one of the largest taxpayers in Australia and expects to fund approximately eight per cent of total Australian company tax for the 2023 financial year – at an adjusted effective tax rate of 32.1 per cent rising to 44.9 per cent when royalties were included.
According to the report, BHP-operated projects contributed ten per cent and eleven per cent of all revenue (excluding grants) in Queensland and Western Australia, respectively.
BHP President Australia, Geraldine Slattery, said that Australia’s regional and remote communities are important to BHP, and operating in a way that benefits the areas where it operates is at the heart of the company’s approach.
“BHP is a major contributor to Australia’s national economy and regional communities through jobs, training, local and Indigenous suppliers, taxes, royalties and social investments,” Ms Slattery said.
“We will continue to work in partnership with our many stakeholders to support Australia’s economic prosperity as we deliver the minerals needed for global economic development and decarbonisation.”
The full report can be accessed here.
