7 questions lodged at 2024 Bluescope hybrid AGM

Q1. If you believe the media, we were important during the first Trump term in fending off proposed steel tariffs that would have hurt Australia. What was our lived experienced with steel tariffs between 2017 and 2021 and please provide some early commentary on the tariff risks situation during the forthcoming second Trump administration.

Q2. Could new chair Jane McAloon please comment on the biggest changes in board process, delegations, reporting lines or governance that she has implemented since taking over as chair from John Bevan after last year's AGM? Could the CEO Mark Vasalla also comment as to whether Jane is more or less hands on than John Bevan as a chair? What has changed in the way he communicates with and interacts with the board?

Answer: Acting chair Ewen Crouch didn't allow the chair to answer this, partly because she'd answered a similar question earlier from ASA monitor Mike Muntisov.

Q3. How long has Ernst & Young been our auditor, when we did we last run a full tender for the audit job and when are we next intending to tender our external audit work?

Q4. On page 163 of the annual report we list the 3 big US index funds - Blackrock, State Street and Vanguard, along with the biggest industry fund, Australian Super - as the 4 biggest shareholders with holdings above 5% but we only state the number of shares each controls and not the percentage stake. I had to calculate that the big 4 collectively own 97.35m shares or 22.12% of the company. Will you fix this disclosure next year and how do we directly engaged with each of our 4 largest shareholders? Are they supportive?

Q5. Could new director Alastair Field and the chair comment on the recruitment process that led to his appointment to the board. Which recruitment firm, if any, assisted with the process, did the full board interview Alastair as a group and did they interview any other candidates? Did Alastair know any of our directors before engaging with the recruitment process?

Q6. When disclosing the outcome of voting on all resolutions today, but particularly this proposed increase in the fee cap for directors, please advise the ASX how many of our 66,523 shareholders voted for & against, similar to what happens with a scheme of arrangement? This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment & insight into the chronically low retail shareholder participation rate. Others such as Qantas, ASX, Suncorp, Tabcorp and Computershare have already done this during the current AGM season.

Answer: Three cheers to Bluescope, which delivered the extra voting data.

Q7. Did any of the proxy advisers recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions, including this rem report item? If so, what reasons did they give? Please don't say they are confidential. It is standard for companies to be across this detail on the voting recommendations and inform shareholders where relevant. Also, why not disclose the proxy position to the ASX along with the formal addresses, as companies like Origin, JB Hi Fi, Nine, Computershare and NAB now do to allow for a more fully informed AGM debate.

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