about
Our people
We partner with our team, our community and our stakeholders to achieve business objectives that promote a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace. We lead with thoughtful action and pride ourselves on how we show up and how we follow through.
Leadership
At Port Waratah, leadership isn’t a title. It’s trust earned through the choices we make every day - the checks we do, and decisions made with care.
We believe everyone leads when they take responsibility, care for each other and put people and safety first. It’s why we invest in our people, systems, and safeguards to support our industry and the community that rely on us. From managing air quality to monitoring operational performance shift after shift.
Leadership is guided by our values of Excellence, Progress, Caring and Integrity, with service at the heart of everything we do. Our systems support efficient and effective leadership, robust governance and excellence in operational delivery.
We invest in leadership not only through formal programmes and development, but by empowering our people to lead through everyday experiences, conversations, and decisions at every level of Port Waratah. Our ongoing Leader Development initiatives help foster a culture of leadership that’s trusted to deliver.
Meaningful collaboration
Effective internal relationships with our people is key to fostering a positive work environment that ensures employees feel, and are, represented and supported in our business strategy. Employees interact with senior leadership through a range of activities, such as forums, business briefings, training sessions and team focused sessions.
Our Human Resources policies and management systems lay the foundations for our approach to employment and our relationships with employees.
Over 50 per cent of our workforce is made up of Enterprise Agreement (EA) employees, who are represented in EA negotiations by five different unions. Port Waratah welcomes Freedom of Association for our employees should they choose to be a member of a trade union. Click here to access a full version of our current Enterprise Agreement.
Our non-EA employees are employed under individual contracts which are reviewed and negotiated through an annual process including remuneration assessment based on market analysis and performance.
Diversity and inclusion
Port Waratah’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy continues to focus on an increasingly diverse workforce and build a culture of fairness, equity and inclusiveness.
Our internal Diversity and Inclusion Committee is a group of employees that represent different areas of the business, with their objective to activate and support the delivery of the Diversity & Inclusion Strategy and to advocate for a more diverse and inclusive working culture at Port Waratah.
They are responsible for progressing change by participating in key strategic projects and initiatives that support the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, which currently has a focus on the three key areas of Inclusive Culture, Inclusive Careers and Inclusive Commerce & Community.
In meeting our obligations under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, we annually lodge our Workplace Profile with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) and eliminate gender pay gaps with remuneration within market parity.
In 2021, our CEO, Hennie du Plooy signed the Diversity Council of Australia’s ‘I stand for respect’ pledge’, committing to a safe, equal and inclusive workplace free of discrimination and harassment.
Port Waratah received the Excellence in Diversity Programme and Performance Award at the 2021 Women in Mining Awards.
Developing our people
We invest in the talent and potential of our team. Port Waratah actively seeks out opportunities and develops programmes to enable our people to fulfil meaningful personal and professional goals, participate in continuous improvement and change management, and become effective coaches and leaders. We run regular training sessions, offer support in professional skills development, and encourage internal secondments and team rotations.
This has included creating fit-for-purpose leadership programmes that give our leaders the skills to lead more effective teams and deliver on our purpose. We are committed to supporting programmes and activities that build the next generation of employees and leaders, including:
The University of Newcastle Scholarship programme
Supporting early career development and students impacted by a disadvantage (Equity/Excellence model).
HunterNet Future Leaders
An external multidisciplinary programme developing core business and team leadership skills, that supports community and local industry connection.
The Women in Mining mentoring programme
An external industry programme open to female employees that aims to support and retain women in the minerals industry and enhance career progression.
Apprenticeship programme
A host employer for mechanical and electrical trade apprentices, supporting their qualification education with on-the-job training and development.
Leadership team
The Senior Leadership Team is committed to and passionate about leading Port Waratah
The team supports Port Waratah goals of being an agile, efficient and sustainable organisation which is able to operate at its best in any market conditions. Collectively, they bring decades of experience in the resources and logistics industries, with a diverse set of skills and backgrounds.
Hennie du Plooy
Chief Executive Officer
Hennie joined Port Waratah in 2011 with extensive leadership experience in the mining industry. His core focus is to engage Port Waratah’s people in the success of the business through authentic leadership, while building trust-based relationships with external stakeholders.
Solitaire Gadbsy
Manager Health & Safety
Solitaire is committed to the Health, Safety and wellbeing of all people connected to Port Waratah. Joining Port Waratah in 2018 from the mining industry, she is focused on driving a safety culture based on industry best practice.
Trudie Larnach
Manager Sustainability & Corporate Affairs
Trudie joined Port Waratah in 2016. She is passionate about sustainability in the Resource sector, building authentic, constructive relationships and continuous improvement of environmental performance.
Emma Boucher
Manager Human Resources
Emma joined Port Waratah in 2018 from a diverse range of organisations in healthcare and heavy asset industries. She is passionate about improving business performance through inclusive leadership and culture development and attracting and retaining key talent.
Paula Johnston
Chief Financial Officer
Paula joined Port Waratah in 2024 and is a Chartered Accountant with a 25-year career in public practice and senior management, including Senior Finance Executive. She is committed to delivering corporate services with integrity and a value-add mindset.
Peter Naude
Manager IT Services
Peter has led a team of skilled IT professionals for Port Waratah since 2014. His focus is to use technology applied through established change management processes to deliver business changing outcomes for Port Waratah and its business partners.
Hilary Barton
Strategic Projects Director
Hilary is a Mechanical Engineer with extensive asset management and leadership experience in manufacturing and heavy asset industries. As Strategic Projects Director, she is committed to leading teams in best practice project delivery to ensure optimum capacity for our customers.
Chris Carroll
Manager Maintenance Services
Chris is an engineer with more than 20 years’ experience in the mining industry. He is dedicated to ensuring the safety of our people, maintaining equipment reliability and developing comprehensive service delivery plans. Chris excels in leading and developing teams and driving continuous improvement.
Alexandra Purcell
Manager Operations Delivery
Alexandra joined Port Waratah in 2023 bringing experience from mining, marine and rail industries. Leading with a collaborative style, she is focussed on engagement and development of people to safely deliver results.
Steve Rigby
Manager Service Assurance
Joining Port Waratah in 1997, Steve is a long-serving member of the leadership team with extensive knowledge of the coal export industry. He is driven to deliver superior services to our customers creating strong working relationships and collaboration across the coal chain.
