BHP Strike Month Two: What Happens If You're Forced to Declare Bankruptcy

Two months into the BHP strike and the conversations in the wet mess have shifted. Early on it was about picket lines and solidarity. Now it's about which bills didn't get paid this fortnight and whether the missed car repayment from six weeks ago is about to turn into something a lot worse. If you're at the point where a creditor has sent a bankruptcy notice, or you're staring down a pile of default letters and wondering if that's where this is heading, this is the stage nobody talks about at the crib room table.

Bankruptcy in Australia isn't just a bank account problem. For FIFO workers specifically, it can reach into your job, your site access and your ability to get on a plane to the next swing. Here's what actually happens, in plain terms, without the legal jargon.

The dollar figure that actually triggers it

You don't go bankrupt because you're broke. You go bankrupt because a creditor takes formal action, or because you choose to declare it yourself (called a debtor's petition). The trigger most people don't know about is this: a creditor can issue a bankruptcy notice once you owe them $10,000 or more on a judgment debt. That's the threshold as of 2024, and it gets indexed periodically, so check the current figure with AFSA (the Australian Financial Security Authority) before you assume anything.

Once that notice lands, you've got 21 days to either pay up, negotiate a deal, or apply to set it aside. Ignore it, and the creditor can apply to have you declared bankrupt through the courts. That's the sequence: missed payments, default, debt collector, judgment, bankruptcy notice, and only then does actual bankruptcy kick in. It's rarely one missed novated lease payment. It's usually three or four debts compounding over months, which lines up with exactly where a lot of blokes are sitting right now after eight weeks without a full pay cheque.

If you're doing the maths on your own situation, add up every default. Credit cards, personal loans, that ute finance you took out when overtime was flowing. If any single creditor's judgment debt against you hits $10,000, they have the legal right to start this process. Multiple smaller debts don't combine unless a single creditor holds that amount.

What a trustee can and can't touch

Once you're declared bankrupt (either voluntarily or through the courts), a trustee is appointed to manage your affairs, usually through AFSA or a registered private trustee. People imagine this means someone turns up and takes the lot. That's not how it works, and knowing the actual boundaries matters because it changes how you plan the next twelve months.

What a trustee generally can take or use:

• Any equity in property beyond what's protected. If you own a house with real equity, that's exposed.
• Cash in bank accounts, term deposits and most savings.
• Shares, crypto, and other investments outside super.
• Vehicles worth more than the protected threshold (around $8,900 as a rough guide, indexed regularly, so it moves).
• A portion of your income if you earn above a set threshold. For 2024, that threshold sits around $79,532 net a year for someone with no dependents, and it scales up if you've got kids or a partner. Above that line, you pay a percentage of the excess to the trustee for three years.

What generally stays untouched:

• Superannuation, in almost all cases, as long as contributions weren't dodgy last-minute transfers designed to hide money.
• Household items and tools of trade up to reasonable value. Your work boots, PPE and basic tools are safe.
• Vehicles under the protected threshold, which matters if you're driving something modest.

Here's the part that catches FIFO workers specifically: because a lot of guys earn well above that $79,532 threshold during a normal roster with overtime and allowances, income contributions during bankruptcy can be substantial. If you're on $140,000 to $160,000 a year in a normal roster, a chunk of everything above the threshold gets redirected to the trustee for three years. That's not theoretical. That's real money out of every pay cycle for three years straight, which is longer than most people expect and longer than the strike itself will run.

The part nobody warns you about: site access and security checks

This is the bit that gets glossed over in every generic bankruptcy explainer, because it's specific to our industry. A lot of roles on site, particularly anything involving cash handling, procurement, warehousing, contract admin, or supervisory positions with financial delegation, require a credit check or a broader background and security clearance as part of onboarding or ongoing employment.

Bankruptcy shows up on those checks. It's a matter of public record through the National Personal Insolvency Index, and it stays there for the duration of the bankruptcy (typically three years, sometimes longer if it's extended) plus a period afterward depending on the check type. Mining companies, contractors and labour hire firms that run credit or probity checks as part of their induction or ongoing compliance will see it.

What this actually means in practice:

• If you're already employed in a general operator or trades role with no financial responsibility attached, bankruptcy usually doesn't affect your current job directly. Most sites aren't rerunning credit checks on existing operators every year.
• If you're up for a promotion into a supervisory or admin role, or moving to a new site or contractor that runs pre-employment credit checks (common with major contractors and increasingly common with the majors themselves for certain positions), bankruptcy can be a disqualifying factor.
• Some FIFO roles tied to government contracts, defence-adjacent resources work, or certain camp management and logistics positions run full financial probity checks. Bankruptcy is a red flag in those processes and can knock you out of contention entirely.
• Site access badges themselves rarely check bankruptcy status directly, but the employer sponsoring that access might, especially on renewal.

The practical takeaway: if you're mid-strike and considering bankruptcy as the only way out, have an honest conversation with your current employer or HR about what your specific role requires before you sign anything. If you're planning to move sites once the strike ends and pick up a better roster somewhere else, understand that bankruptcy could close doors you didn't know were locked. Comparing rosters and site conditions across the country becomes a different exercise once you know some employers will run a credit check as standard, so it pays to know which sites and roles are more likely to require one before you commit to a plan.

What to actually do before it gets to this point

Bankruptcy is the last stop, not the first move. Before a creditor gets anywhere near issuing a bankruptcy notice, there are steps that cost nothing and buy real time:

• Call the creditor before they call you. Every major bank and lender in Australia has a hardship team obligated under the National Credit Code to consider a hardship variation. Ring them, explain the strike, ask for a repayment pause or reduced payments for 60 to 90 days. This alone stops most debts from ever reaching default.
• Use a free financial counsellor. The National Debt Helpline (1800 007 007) is free, confidential and staffed by people who negotiate with creditors for a living. They can often get better outcomes than you can on your own, and they'll tell you honestly whether bankruptcy is actually your best option or whether a debt agreement under Part IX of the Bankruptcy Act might protect more of your assets.
• Look at a Part IX debt agreement before full bankruptcy. It's less severe, doesn't require the same income contributions, and generally has a shorter footprint on credit and probity checks. Not everyone qualifies (there are income and asset caps) but it's worth ruling out first.
• Talk to your union or EBA rep about strike hardship funds. Some union funds and welfare provisions exist precisely for situations like this. It won't cover everything, but it can be the difference between one missed payment and three.

The strike will end. BHP and the union will land on an agreement, back pay or no back pay, and rosters will normalise. Bankruptcy doesn't end when the strike does. It runs its own three-year clock regardless of what happens at the negotiating table, and it can follow you into the next job application long after everyone's forgotten which fortnight the picket started.

If you're already past the point of hardship calls and looking at a bankruptcy notice in your letterbox, get to a financial counsellor this week, not after the notice period runs out. Twenty-one days moves fast when you're also trying to work out how you're paying the mortgage.