Alex Hillman is with the Ostralations Center for Corporate Responsibility. What does this decision mean for Woodside? Get a Alex good to talk to.
You, Hice something good to be on the station.
Yeah, thank you. We're running a yes no poll today, Is it over for the Woodside processes? The yes are five and the nose are twenty And I think you would agree with that this this could really exacerbate and inflame the hardline activists.
Yeah, there's obviously a number of aspects to this. You know, the environmental aspects are pretty clear. You're talking a lot about the Yeah, the protests that that Woodsid's receiving. You know, we spend a lot of time thinking about investor perspectives and speaking to investors as well. Woodside doesn't have a
strong record of generating strong shareholder returns. It's invested in a number of projects that we think have lost money, and we're actually concerned that's that's just going to happen again if it proceeds with brows.
That So that's the next bad, isn't it. That's the next part of the puzzle. We suspect the browse basis.
Yeah, yeah, I think so. So, you know, this can do small approval. We haven't seen what the conditions are, but that's to operate craft the gas plant or the Northwest Shelf which can process gas. But that's running out of gas. So you know, if this approval is granted, then you know Woodside is going to be looking for other gas sources and you know, probably the most prominent is Brows.
So you know, I had a little phone around yesterday and talked to people who are on the protest activism side of it, Alex and they I think they're a little rattled. They weren't expecting the decisions to be so quick and so clear and so brutal. Conditions notwithstanding if I can ask you about that part of it, the social license part of I guess for Woodside and their corporate responsibility thereof you mentioned that there hasn't always been
a great investor return. People like me seduced by the fact that they sponsored the Nippers, they had a nice, big building in the city, they sponsored the Frio Dockers. People like me seduced that by their community image.
I can't talk to what suggests you, you know.
What, thank you, but yeah, you know what I mean, they've got to I think they've got a good rep in a brand in the community, haven't they, which which goes to corporate responsibility.
I think they act like they need to protect their brands. You know that they do face a lot of Cruiz's criticism. I think, you know, maybe counter and trial intuitively to some of your listeners. They actually don't generate strong returns. So over the last fifteen years they've actually generated less shareholder return they haven't generated enough shareholder returns to keep up with inflation. They've generated point seven percent per year.
So they've got they've got a weak brand that they feel they need to protect, and they've got a business model which which doesn't generate strong returns for investors.
Seen as a w A company too, aren't they? And they are based here, they're employee about four thousand people aregain. That's that goes to branding, I suppose, doesn't it.
Yeah, Yeah, they are w based. They're increasingly focused on Houston, so you that currency Meg is US based. Their last major investment was US based, So I think they like to play up the fact that they're a West Australian company. Yeah, and they still are headquartered here. But you know, I think that there is a gradual pivot towards them being increasingly Americanized.
This is Alex Hillman from the Australasian Center for Corporate Responsibility. If I were to ask you as a citizen, Alex, or even is an edgy in doing your day job as you are now? Yes?
No?
Is it over for the Woodside protests? Are you yes? Or are you and no? No?
So I think climate change climate science is getting more certain, the impacts are getting more real. You know, we're seeing massive floods in New South Wales at the moment. We're seeing massive droughts in South Australia at the moment. You know, the Australian government is both sides of government have a net zero policy. So the energy transition is happening. Woodside
doesn't seem to accept this. They're still developing new fossil fuels against what we would say is their shareholder interests. And again it's the accelerating energy transition that the world's going through.
PM mentioned firming capacity this week. Alex. He seems to think or hint that we still we're going to need gas for a while.
Yeah, that's true. So you know that the energy transition is happening. The vast bulk of energy or increase energy supply each year and is now coming from renewables. And what we're seeing in Australia and the East Coast and the West Coast in Japan, in China and Europe, what we're seeing is that renewables are backing out coal and then as that happens, we're seeing less less demand for gas.
So although we need some gas to you know, while we transition to a fully renewable grid, the amount of gas we need is decreasing over time and we already have enough developed So the International Energy Agency says that we have enough developed gas reserves that we don't need to develop anymore on our way through the energy transition.
Thanks for the chat today, Alex. Very good tacnical move. Not to comment on the seduction stuff, but thanks for thank you.
Great to thank you.
Thanks cheers, my Alex Hillman