about
Our people
We partner with our team, our communities and our stakeholders to achieve business objectives that promote a safe, diverse and inclusive workplace.
Meaningful collaboration
Strong 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 Working Group supports and is represented by employees across all levels of the business. The group meets monthly to improve our knowledge, raise awareness, increase our commitment and involvement, and leverage our existing policies to consistently align with our internal Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
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.
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
Manager Maintenance Services
Hilary is a Mechanical Engineer with extensive asset management and leadership experience in manufacturing and heavy asset industries. Joining Port Waratah in 2018, she is committed to coaching teams using best practice maintenance strategies and embracing technology.
Simon Gelder
Manager Commercial Services
Simon joined Port Waratah in 2019. He has extensive experience in financial and commercial management and is driven to contribute continuous improvements in efficiency and effectiveness through optimising governance and process.
Eden Simic
Manager Asset & Infrastructure
Eden's focus is on Asset Strategy, long-term planning and project delivery. Joining Port Waratah in 2010, she is passionate about promoting an inclusive culture, creating solutions and collaboration to maximise asset service delivery and manage risk.
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.
