Workers encouraged to report sexual harassment

The MCA is very disappointed by the results of a CFMEU confidential survey of Queensland mining workers which revealed incidents of sexual harassment, assaults and bullying in the sector.

Sexual harassment and all disrespectful behaviour is unacceptable. There is no place for this behaviour in workplaces and across society.

Reporting incidents is essential to holding individuals to account and making sure it is eliminated from the sector. We thank those that share their stories.

The Australian mining industry is committed to eliminating sexual harassment and 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.

We encourage mining workers to come forward and report these incidents to their respective companies so we can deal with them immediately and confidentially.

The National Industry Code on eliminating sexual harassment requires companies protect individuals from victimisation or reprisals.

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.