A landmark inquiry into Australia’s mining sector has uncovered dozens of shocking cases of sexual harassment and abuse of women workers at companies including BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group.
The Western Australia government report released Thursday described "horrific” incidents at the workplace, which it labeled both a failure of the industry and an oversight by government. Among recommendations were the payment of compensation to the many workers who became victims of bosses and colleagues on remote projects.
"I was shocked and appalled well beyond expectation by the size and depth of the problem,” Libby Mettam, chair of the inquiry, said in the report. "To hear the lived reality of the taunts, attacks and targeted violence, the devastation and despair the victims experienced, the threats to or loss of their livelihood that resulted was shattering and completely inexcusable.”