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neWs

Industry must wake up

on harassment

he title of the WA Mining Club Septem- really need to call it out and start to prioritise walk” on setting the correct standards, in-
Tber luncheon may have been called it because our workforce is becoming a lot stead of soapboxing.
‘Explorers on the Move’, but the panel dis- more diverse up on site and that is foster- Widgie Nickel Ltd managing director
cussion was all about reflection as a number ing better thinking and better outcomes… Steve Norregaard echoed the sentiment of
of industry figures said the line on female but we’re still not calling it out enough on the his peers on stage, saying standards in the
discrimination needed to be drawn immedi- spot.” “C suite” trickled down and influenced the
ately. Graham said he had witnessed such dis- greater workforce.
Session chair, Deloitte head of financial crimination firsthand in social settings, espe- “The standard you set as a leader, is the
advisory and WA mining leader Nicki Ivory, cially when women weren’t in the room. standard you set for the organisation,” Nor-
prodded tough questions to the panel. She “I see it a lot. Like at the dinner table, some regaard said. “Looking past any kind of
boldly stated that ESG plays an important of the conversations people have are inap- workplace rules and regulations, it’s clearly
role in how many companies operate today, propriate. They feel it’s OK because they’re about how you behave in the organisation.”
but the ‘S’ in the motto could well represent away from home, on site,” he said. Ivory also highlighted the lack of female
sexual harassment given the negative main- “We have to train our leaders to say it’s representation in “C suite” positions. Norre-
stream press attributed to the industry over not acceptable. It’s the culture in an organi- gaard was again quick to reply, saying that
the past year. sation. With Strandline, we’ve got a great barrier was steadily being broken down – al-
In August, BHP Ltd put its foot down on opportunity because we’re not inheriting a beit slowly.
sexual harassment within its FIFO camps by legacy of bad behaviour. We can really work “[Widgie non-executive director] Felicity
sacking 48 employees across its mine sites. to build our leadership...it starts with educa- Repacholi-Muir is an integral part of the or-
Ongoing coverage of further sexual harass- tion.” ganisation and we’re lucky to have her,” he
ment and mistreatment of women continues Graham was joined on stage by Liontown said. “I think it’s a barrier that is being broken
to negatively impact the sector’s public im- Resources Ltd managing director Tony Otta- down. If we continue to break those barriers
age. viano, who agreed that standards in respect and engage the women in our workforce,
This has only worsened the younger Aus- are cemented in culture and that the new then we’ll see that change going into the fu-
tralian demographic’s regard towards the generation of workers definitely won’t settle ture.”
industry that it has generally deemed as for less. But the industry’s treatment for the new,
‘dirty’ – a young demographic that is sorely “Like Luke said, it is about setting the right younger, emerging workforce has never
needed to fill the future workforce. culture from the start so that people feel like been under greater pressure due to the re-
Strandline Resources Ltd managing direc- they can speak up and call it out,” he said. “I stricted labour market. The brunt of such
tor Luke Graham said the only way to stamp think it is important, as an industry-wide is- restriction feels even heavier in Western
out the discrimination was to shine a light on sue, to address it. Because if you don’t, we Australia thanks to a hard border that is
it, and that leaving the negative culture to fes- won’t attract the best talent into our industry. stemming interstate travel (see page 9).
ter would only further alienate those young We will wither.” WA Premier Mark McGowan has been
workers. Ivory rebutted the offered solutions by coy on the eventual easing of interstate trav-
“You just have to call it out,” he said. “We asking how companies intend to “walk the el but did say in mid-October that an 80%
vaccination rate of citizens was not enough
to move forward. The hard border appears
likely to stay in place until at least next year.
WAMC panel members expressed their
bubbling impatience over the “ambiguity” of
the border that is turning the heat up on fulfill-
ing labour roles.
“I think that as Liontown gets ready for
construction, hopefully we’ll all be vaccinat-
ed to the point where our borders will open,”
Ottaviano said. “We can then build our team
with the natural passage of time.”
Graham was quick to support Ottaviano’s
eagerness for a relaxed border.
“Hopefully the borders will relax for the in-
terstate travel for our industry and take some
of the pressure off for us, it’s no doubt a very
tight market,” he said. “Good projects take
The September wA Mining Club event was chaired by Deloitte head of financial advisory and good people, and, in this market, we need
wA mining leader Nicki ivory (from left), with panellists Liontown managing director Tony to educate the workers on the opportunities.”
Ottaviano, Strandline managing director Luke Graham and widgie Nickel managing director – Fraser Palamara
Steve Norregaard

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