WA Liberal National Party (LNP) leader, Libby Mettam, gave a speech to a half-full room at a conference in Perth on the 18-month anniversary of the ‘Enough is Enough’ report, which examined sexual harassment in the mining industry.
“When we first looked into this issue of sexual harassment and mining in the industry it was in response to a number of media reports in the West Australian and other commercial media – I was actually taken aback,” Mettam told the crowd.
“It literally took our breath away.”
She specifically addressed the practice of ‘shovelling,’ one of the most controversial and widely reported findings from the report, where women on-site were allegedly taunted with threats of having their vehicles covered in ore.
“We’re already responding to the discrimination commissioner’s [broader] report where a lot of women reported harassment over a five-year period … the mining industry has more risk factors due to the isolation of FIFO [workers],” Mettam added, noting that contractual promotion arrangements can open up the door to requests for sexual favour.
“We’re not talking about the majority of men, we’re talking about a small number of individuals … making life difficult in some sectors, in some camps.”
She commended BHP for committing millions of dollars to improve residential infrastructure to limit opportunities for assaults.
When asked if she believes the industry understands what harassment is, Mettam expressed that harassment could be reframed as psychosocial harm, an emerging term encompassing mental health in general.
Mettam also acknowledged companies implementing HR training modules.
“I think it will be more difficult for the smaller companies,” she said, noting that a smaller resource base might make it more difficult to implicate changes in a way the bigger companies can.
“Quite clearly, there is still a long way to go. What we need to see, the idea of success, will be a recognition that it’s not enough just to not be involved or engaged in this bad behaviour, but, we want to see individuals actually call it out.
“We have also seen companies such as Rio Tinto and the Gold Industry Group invest in their own audits of harassment and worksafe behaviour and then make their findings public, which I think should be commended as well.”
When asked about ongoing government initiatives, Mettam observed that multiple companies are trying to mitigate the issue in various ways.
“The risk factors as I had said in the FIFO industry are very unique and we’re also talking about activities that are happening outside those work hours but on the work site.”
“If a company is obligating an individual to be at a work site they have an obligation to ensure that is a safe workplace … we have asked for updates from government and feel reasonably confident about the progress.”
The host then inquired if the issue is specific to WA, given the dominance of the FIFO industry in Australia’s largest state.
Mettam advocated for an ambitious proposed policy to identify and exclude offenders in the industry.
“That is a significant issue and I guess the role of the active bystander, and those programs lifting overall standards to ensure women feel comfortable … the value of good HR policies as well as reporting and the importance of being able to prosecute against it [is needed.]”
Mettam said that company responses to a proposed register of offenders have led to some consideration by some companies, but believes it more meaningfully needs to be pursued.
In Mettam’s view, such a policy would send a strong message to those who may be willing to abuse power dynamics in return for sexual favours or other outcomes. Mettam also turned her attention to getting more young women into the workforce, at a time when mining wholemeal struggles to attract Gen Z.
“This issue is more than a human rights issue which is how it has been seen, it’s a safety issue as well.
“There’s such great value in having role models and leaders. We know the mix and number of women in this workplace has changed very little since 2008, it’s about 20 per cent of the workforce.
“Having women in key leadership roles is important as well.”