The single greatest barrier to women in the resources industry reporting sexual assault and harassment is fear of the repercussions from employers and colleagues, an advocacy and support group for women in the sector says.
A scathing parliamentary report titled 'Enough is Enough' released on Thursday laid bare a culture in which sexual harassment was prevalent and "generally accepted or overlooked" by mining companies.
The report's recommendations were built on the testimony of 55 witnesses who detailed the predatory workplaces they were subjected to and their devastating stories of sexual harassment and assault.
Many companies admitted not reporting incidents to the regulator, partly because they were not required to in some instances.
Western Australia's Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety [DMIRS] received only 22 reports in seven years, and WA police investigated just 23 reports in two years.
Women face pressure to 'keep their head down'
Linda Hamilton, the founder and director of Hi-Vis Women Australia, said she was not surprised.
"There's only one barrier and that's fear," Ms Hamilton said.
"I've spoken to so many women and we still live with the whole 'if you complain you'll never work again in this town mentality', and that sort of fear factor.
"It's also such a struggle to complain. It's such a struggle to understand that now I'm putting myself out there and I'm going to come at this with, you know, people who don't want to hear the story.
"I'm going up against what some employers would rather (people) do, and that's keep your head down and be quiet."
Abuse 'swept under the rug'
Katrina Williams, who previously worked fly-in, fly-out [FIFO] roles for several years across a number of WA sites and companies, said most women in mining either knew a victim of such behaviour or were one themselves.
She said the stories of harassment and abuse in the parliamentary report were both unsurprising and relatively common, as was the culture of repression, fear and silence.
"A lot of the time things get swept under the rug, or you just accept some of this poor, inappropriate behaviour," Ms Williams said.
"Small sexual remarks that everyone would just play off as a joke."
The isolation made it harder, she said, with few options to do anything.
She said some men on site would steal female co-workers' underwear, leaving them unable to hang out their laundry in front of their dongas for fear someone might take it.
"A lot of the men will be bystanders because they don't want to be called out by their mates as well, so everyone feels like they have to sweep it under the rug and forget about it really," she said.
Zero-tolerance approach needed
Inquiry chair Libby Mettam said many people who made submissions "clearly mistrusted" the available reporting systems or did not know they existed.
Ms Mettam said the key to change was embedding a workplace culture that did not tolerate sexual assault or abuse and emboldened bystanders to speak up, in much the same way as has been done with physical safety on mine sites.
On Friday, Premier Mark McGowan repeatedly said the onus was on companies.
"We are doing what we can, but the obligation is really on the big employers and even the small employers to make sure their workplaces are safe," Mr McGowan said.
But the inquiry's report made clear there was a long way to go at a government level as well.
It found that DMIRS and WorkSafe WA had improved their ability to deal with psychosocial safety and handle reports of harassment or assault, but the department's changes were "belated and insufficient" and the agencies remained "underprepared to deal with sexual harassment as a work health and safety issue".
Among the report's 24 recommendations were that mining companies ensure there are "serious repercussions, including dismissal" for anyone who seeks sexual favours.
It also recommended they establish acceptable standards for safety and security on site, that regulators improve guidelines and definitions, and that Worksafe WA establish an expert group to investigate reports of sexual harassment and assault.
Advocacy groups could help empower women
Ms Hamilton said there should also be more involvement by external groups, such as Hi-Vis Women, to change the culture and empower employees.
She believed there should be workshops for those entering the industry to give them the tools to shut down gaslighting, passive aggression and outright aggression.
Ms Hamilton said women needed to know that if they did come forward and speak up, their employer would have their back and they would have an advocate like Hi-Vis Women standing next to them.
"By them becoming more empowered and informed, including building the trust, I think that's where the culture shift's going to come from," Ms Hamilton said.
"We have to give them confidence that if they do that, they're going to do that with an advocate.
"And that is what Hi-Vis women is, we want to stand beside them and be their advocate and be their peer support."
More women in senior positions within the industry was also essential to build that confidence, she said.
Few mine workers are female
But only 18 per cent of workers in mining were women in the 2020 financial year, according to the federal government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Simon Trott said the mining giant was seeking to increase the number of women in its workforce by two per cent a year and had recently conducted a recruitment drive to employ people outside the industry.
"That's going to make a stronger, better business, a better place to work," Mr Trott told ABC Radio Perth.
But asked how a culture where sexual harassment was often prevalent, as well as the disconnect that existed between workplace policy announcements and what happened on the ground, Mr Trott acknowledged a failure of management.
"Absolutely, we have to acknowledge there has been a failure and that's what we're working to address," he said.
The report also included a call for a register of perpetrators of sexual harassers to stop them from job-hopping from one company to another, similar to a working with children check.
Mr Trott said he thought the idea had merit, but complexities surrounding privacy issues needed to be worked through.
"I'm fully supportive of all mechanisms that are going to make our business and industry safer," he said.
Following its own inquiry last year, Rio Tinto has committed $200 million in funding to improve safety and conditions for workers on its sites.
Women reluctant to enter mining
Milena Djurasinovic is the director of Drive Personnel, a labour-hire company mostly for the mining sector.
"Our clients, they're screaming out for females but obviously that comes with a few challenges as well in terms of finding and recruiting them," she said.
"It's traditionally been a male-dominated industry, so some females might not feel comfortable, they might not feel that they can do it, or that it's for them, or even that they will be accepted for the job.
"Other issues we find is a lot of females we do have on our books are single mums and time-wise they're quite constrained because a lot of the time they have their children in care full time."
