Since the release of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Respect@Work report in 2020 on sexual harassment in the workplace, public scrutiny about sexual harassment and sexual assault at work has continued to grow. The Western Australian mining industry is now in focus. Recent inquiries and investigations have highlighted the urgent case for change, including Rio Tinto’s Everyday Respect Taskforce’s Report into Workplace Culture at Rio Tinto in 2021 and the Western Australian Parliament's Community Development and Justice Standing Committee’s Inquiry into sexual harassment against women in the fly in fly out mining industry (Inquiry) during 2021-2022.
The Inquiry’s report, Enough is Enough, uncovered the scale of these behaviours across the Western Australian mining industry and highlighted the workplace cultures that normalise and allow sexual assault and sexual harassment to continue unabated. The Inquiry called upon the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS) and WorkSafe to more effectively prevent and respond to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the mining industry. Enough is Enough found that the regulation of workplaces has not kept up with changing expectations by the community and recommended that DMIRS lead the:
- clear guidance to the mining industry on how to prevent and respond to sexual harassment in their workplaces (for example, development of comprehensive standards and guidelines);
- improvement of capability and capacity of DMIRS resourcing (for example, a fully resourced, culturally appropriate expert investigations group); and
- engagement and collaboration with the WA Government and mining industry to support prevention of sexual harassment (for example, development of training and resources for the mining industry).
On 22 June 2022, in response to the Enough is Enough report, the Minister, the Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, announced PwC had been engaged to undertake a Regulatory Capability Review of WorkSafe Mines Safety (Review). The purpose of this Review is to understand DMIRS’ protocols for responding to sexual assault and sexual harassment in the mining industry. Since the Inquiry and over the course of this Review, significant progress has been made, indicating a shift in understanding of sexual assault and sexual harassment as a workplace health and safety issue within WorkSafe Mines Safety’s responsibility.