A scathing report into sexual assault and harassment within WA's fly-in, fly-out mining industry has found women have been subjected to "an appalling range of behaviours".
Titled 'Enough is Enough', the report details how sexual harassment is "generally accepted or overlooked" and describes the "failure" of miners to recognise what was happening in their workplaces.
Included in the report are stories of several women, including one who was "knocked unconscious in her donga and awoke to find her jeans and underpants around her ankles".
Another said a man "forced his hand down her top numerous times in front of other workers, and no one did anything".
Another shocking account details a "powerplay behaviour" described as "shovelling", where iron ore would be dumped on the cabs of trucks driven by women if they didn’t comply with sexual requests.
"To hear the lived reality of the taunts, attacks and targeted violence, the devastation and despair the victims experienced, the threats or loss of their livelihood that resulted, was shattering and it's completely inexcusable," the inquiry's chair, Libby Mettam, told parliament.
"This represents a failure of the industry to protect its workers, and raises real questions about why government was not better across this safety issue," she said.
Concerns raised over offender 'blacklist'
The report makes 24 recommendations, including overhauling reporting and training in the sector.
A suggestion that surfaced during hearings was an industry-wide "blacklist" to prevent known offenders from being employed on other sites, as the inquiry heard was common.
But Ms Mettam said that raised issues of confidentiality and natural justice, as well as what the threshold would be for inclusion.
"We have recommended the industry explore options, which could operate effectively and fairly to prevent habitual sexual harassment offenders continuing to be re-employed in the mining workplace," she said.
"It is a complex policy issue but it's too important an issue to ignore."
Minister for Women Simone McGurk said the government would consider the recommendations, including the idea of a blacklist, to see whether it was practical.
Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Rob Carruthers said the industry was already working to improve its recruitment and vetting procedures, but would consider the idea.
"Any such process needs to be practical and drive better outcomes, so we'd review that in full detail," he said.
Representing some of the state's biggest miners, Mr Carruthers said it was a "very challenging day" for the industry.
"To those that have been impacted by sexual assault and harassment in our industry, on behalf of our industry, I apologise," he said.
While acknowledging it would take time to digest the report, Mr Carruthers said the industry was already committed to stamping out sexual assault and harassment and would support recommendations which were practical.
The report's recommendations include:
- The government establish a forum to explore the scale of the issue and consider opportunities for redress
- Mining companies ensure there are "serious repercussions, including dismissal" for anyone who seeks sexual favours
- The industry establishing acceptable standards for safety and security on site
- Regulators improving guidelines and definitions across all areas of the system
- An expert group be established within WorkSafe WA to investigate reports of sexual harassment and assault.
Report puts regulator in spotlight
The inquiry's report also questioned why the industry regulator, the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, had only received 22 reports of sexual harassment across a seven-year period, despite police investigating 23 in just two years.
However, she said there had been positive steps made by Worksafe WA, which had issued a new code of conduct naming sexual harassment as unacceptable behaviour, and moved to improve its data collection.
But the report also recommended more should be done, particularly to improve the sharing of data between different agencies, including Police and CrimeStoppers.
Worksafe only recently took over responsibility for mine safety, and commissioner Darren Kavanagh said work was already underway to help the industry improve and to lift reporting rates.
"I'm confident that with the implementation of [new work health and safety] regulations and clearer reporting obligations, that industry now have that guidance, and so I expect industry will comply with that from now on," he said.
Industry has failed its workers, says MP
Committee member and Labor MP for Collie-Preston Jodie Hanns said the core of the problems raised rested with mining companies themselves, and that the job of fixing the issue could not be left to taxpayers.
"This is a multi-billion-dollar industry, it earns billions of dollars from the resources owned by the people of Western Australia," she told WA Parliament.
Ms Hanns said the inquiry also led to her realising she would not want her own daughter to work in the mining industry.
"The answer for me is not the laws that we can make as government, it's not the role of Parliament even, it's the very real risk to her safety, to her personal safety, and a risk of sexual assault and sexual harassment," she said.
"That should terrify every parent in Western Australia of young girls and women."
Procedures should put victims first: report
Reporting procedures, both internal and external to companies, were another area of concern raised by the report, which called for "victim-centric procedures" to deal with complaints.
"We were surprised how many of the people who made submissions to us were ignorant of available reporting systems or clearly mistrusted them," Ms Mettam said.
"The key to change is embedding a workplace culture in all mining workforces that does not tolerate sexual assault or abuse, empowering bystanders, like the culture change programs that have addressed physical safety with such success.
"Now it is up to the mining industry and government to seriously address the recommendations in this report.
"It is time to come together to make the cultural, system and legislative changes required to equip, prepare and educate the workforce."
Mines Minister Bill Johnston said the government would stand with and support victims in any way possible, adding the industry had work to do.
Ms McGurk said while the issue was not unique to mining, the circumstances of many sites exacerbated the problem.
"This is of course a vicious cycle, where women aren't attracted to work in the industry, let alone stay in the industry, because of the dominance of men and a disregard of women's experiences, but it does need to be addressed," she said.
She said the government was taking sexual harassment and assault in the workplace seriously, and said it was up to the mining sector to deliver on its promises.
Major mine sites gave evidence
The inquiry ran for almost a year, receiving nearly 100 submissions and examining some of the state's biggest miners as well as government regulators.
It heard that BHP had terminated the employment of 48 staff for inappropriate conduct over two years while Rio Tinto had sacked at least 12 people for sexual harassment or assault last year.
One woman gave evidence she had allegedly been propositioned for sex at two separate mine sites and would only use the gym at 3am when no one else was around.
Ahead of Thursday's report, the government-appointed workplace culture expert Elizabeth Shaw reviewed the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety's responses to sexual harassment and assault within the mining industry.
Earlier this year, Rio Tinto released an internal review into its culture, which detailed accounts of bullying, racism and sexism.
In a statement, the company said it welcomed Thursday's report, as it continues to implement all the recommendations from its own review.
"We will closely study the recommendations contained within the report as we continue to look for ways to prevent disrespectful behaviours in our business," iron ore chief executive Simon Trott said.
"While we know we have a long journey ahead to eradicate disrespectful behaviours from our business, we are committed to strengthening our workplace culture for the long term."
After defining sexual assault and harassment as a safety risk in 2018, BHP last year committed to $300 million in security upgrades across its sites, including guards, CCTV and lighting.
