Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

For nine years, BHP and their joint venture partners Vale have carried out an underhand campaign to deny justice and fairness to hundreds of thousands of people. On 5 November 2015, a tailings dam at BHP Samarco Mariana mining complex in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais burst, and that dam released a 40-metre-high tidal wave of toxic mud flow that travelled for 17 days until it reached the Atlantic Ocean. It obliterated and destroyed downstream villages. It killed 19 people, made hundreds of thousands of people homeless and destroyed the livelihoods of many more. It polluted almost 700 kilometre of waterways, not to mention the surrounding villages and agricultural land. It was the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, and one of the worst in world history.

Thanks to court documents, we know that BHP knew in advance that the dam was not structurally sound. In fact, BHP were warned about problems with the dam shortly after it began operating in 2008. Board minutes from 2009 show BHP representatives on the joint venture were 'worried about the efficacy of the proposed solution to fix seepages at the dam'. Another report in 2011 and yet another report in 2013 warned BHP that the dam needed to be urgently improved and that emergency sirens and plans needed to be put in place downstream. This was never done.

As a direct consequence of BHP's negligence, the residents of the communities surrounding the dam have seen their lives, livelihoods and communities destroyed. After all that, you'd think that BHP would show some contrition. You might think that BHP would respond in good faith and support the people in these communities: the indigenous Krenak people, whose traditional lands had been annihilated, and the quilombola communities—quilombolas are the descendants of African slaves who resisted and survived slavery—which were destroyed. But, instead, BHP has spent nine years trying to undermine and prevent justice. They've taken the James Hardie approach of fighting survivors for as long as possible, hoping they can outlast them.

Today I met with a delegation of community leaders for the second time. Tiali Monique, from the quilombola community, and Michael Krenak, from the indigenous Krenak community, have come all the way from Brazil to share their stories with parliamentarians. They told me how BHP has spent years pressuring people to sign waivers. These waivers give people tiny sums of money in exchange for the destruction of their homes and the loss of their livelihoods.

The BHP strategy is to get people to sign away their rights to just compensation for the destruction of their homes and the loss of their livelihoods in exchange for tiny sums of money. For example, people who worked as fishermen and relied on the river for sustenance and work were compensated with one year's earnings, yet it has been nine years since the disaster and, because of the pollution, they still cannot obtain fishing permits or return to their jobs, and it may take yet another 10 to 15 years or beyond before they can resume their work. They've received compensation for just one year's earnings.

BHP has been applying particular pressure to locals who work in the mining industry. Many of these communities rely on the mining industry for jobs, especially since BHP destroyed their fishing and agriculture industries by polluting their rivers and lands. Local workers have been told that, if they join the campaign for fair compensation, their jobs will be terminated.

I've also been informed that BHP is engaging in a divide-and-conquer strategy, stoking division and trying to turn communities against each other. Later this month, the fight for compensation goes to trial in England. It has taken nine years, and it may take many years more. BHP could come to the table tomorrow and negotiate in good faith. Instead, they are taking the James Hardie approach of trying to bleed their victims dry.

This is not about shutting down the mining industry, and this is not just about the money. It's about forcing BHP to actually give a damn about the people whose lives have been destroyed. It's about forcing BHP to change the way they operate to ensure they work together with communities, not against them. Let's not recklessly destroy their lands and communities. It's about mining while being respectful of the environment and respectful of local communities. It's not too much to ask for, is it?

Sadly, this case is part of the BHP playbook. We saw it in their dealings in Papua New Guinea around the Ok Tedi mine. We saw it in their dealings in the Cerrejon mine in Colombia, where BHP's operations caused severe air and water pollution to Indigenous communities. The situation got so bad that the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment called on BHP and their joint venture partners to halt mining there in 2020. The fact is that BHP are quickly developing a reputation as one of the worst corporate actors in this country. Their actions are damaging Australia's reputation around the world.

Like many others, I call on BHP to come to the table with the communities destroyed by their negligence in Brazil. I call on BHP to immediately stop their campaign to circumvent justice by pressuring individuals and communities to sign shoddy waivers. And I call on BHP to urgently negotiate a fair outcome in good faith.

That disgraceful attitude of BHP is taken not only towards communities in Brazil but echoes their increasingly big-ruler approach to their workers in Australia. BHP are contesting 13 applications in the Fair Work Commission brought by the Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Those applications seek to end BHP's use of the labour hire loophole to rip off mining workers up and down the east coast. BHP set up an internal labour hire subsidiary, BHP Operations Services, to undercut the agreement their workforce had previously negotiated with them in good faith. BHP Operations Services pays up to 40 per cent less than workers of BHP. Brodie Allen, a BHP mine worker in Central Queensland told us:

I've been coalmining and in the industry for seven years. I've been labour hire the entire time, so I go in and do the same job as everybody else, but I'm paid $40,000 less a year to do the exact same thing.

BHP's disgraceful approach has been ripping off workers to the tune of millions of dollars since it was established in 2018.

The Albanese government closed that loophole earlier this year, and the Liberals and Nationals voted to keep it open. The local member up there in the Queensland coalfields, Colin Boyce, voted against it because he said it would 'add additional cost to businesses'. That's the Liberals and Nationals' approach—let businesses cut wages and conditions as low as possible to boost their profit margins. Rather than accept that the loophole has been closed and pay their workers what they are fairly owed, BHP are fighting this tooth and nail at the commission, just like they are fighting communities in Brazil. Whenever BHP have an opportunity to do the right thing, they choose to do the greedy thing instead. For the richest company in Australia, a company that recorded a $20 billion profit this year, it's a disgrace.

Finally, I want to congratulate BHP workers in the Pilbara and their representatives at the Western Mine Workers Alliance. After years of BHP refusing to bargain fairly with their workers in the Pilbara, the Albanese government passed new laws, making it easier for workers to get their bosses back to the bargaining table. And that is exactly what they have chosen to do. Tania Constable from the Minerals Council seems to think working Australians shouldn't be allowed to collectively bargain. In fact, Ms Constable called this a move of 'grave concern'. If BHP's $20 billion profit isn't enough to pay their workers and communities in Brazil fairly, I've got an idea for how they can find some savings: stop sending millions of dollars to the Minerals Council and do your dirty work for yourself.