Sexual harassment is unacceptable

The MCA is profoundly disappointed by the alleged actions of some individuals on the margins of the recent Diggers and Dealers Conference.

The MCA is grateful to journalist, Amber Lilley, for her courage and strength in calling out this alleged abhorrent behaviour.

Reporting incidents of sexual harassment is essential to holding individuals to account.

Sexual harassment, and all disrespectful behaviour is unacceptable, whether in the workplace or social settings.

Every individual, regardless of where they work, who they work for, how they are employed, or the tasks they undertake should expect the same high standard of workplace safety, health and wellbeing.

The Australian mining industry is committed to eliminating sexual harassment.

It has made progress on establishing both preventative and response measures to address sexual harassment, underpinned by a culture of respect that empowers individuals to raise concerns in a supportive and protected way.

The industry tool kit it has developed clearly identifies social settings where sexual harassment can occur and provides an example workplace policy that specifically highlights the responsibilities of leaders and employees wherever and whenever there may be a risk of sexual harassment as a result of their working duties, including on-site, off-site, accommodation facilities, work-related social functions, conferences, and travel.

We acknowledge that this is a continuous journey and through the MCA Respect@Work Taskforce, established in 2020, further actions are underway to support industry’s commitment to eliminate sexual harassment.

These actions include:

• Developing clear expectations on hiring and promotion of candidates with shared values about respectful workplaces
• Developing guidance on sharing information on incidents across the industry, and preventing terminated employees moving across the industry
• Delivering training materials and a series of webinars to support embedding of the national industry code.

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