It feels a bit like deja vu writing this column, as it’s the third time this year that I’ve penned one while WA is in the midst of some form of COVID-19 restrictions.
But I guess that’s just another sign of the times we live in. The coronavirus remains a significant threat to community health and the way we are used to living day-to-day, and concerns about spread of the Delta variant are reflected by the steps various governments around the country have taken over the past week.
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It has been a busy month for our sector. Last Friday, senior leaders from some of our key member companies, including CME President Fiona Hick, joined me in talking to assembled media about the issue of behaviour towards women at operations around the State.
I’m sure many of you will have read our media release and seen the resultant coverage. But to reiterate, we sought to make it clear that women have a vital role to play in our sector and that any form of sexual assault or harassment of any person on site, both in and out of work hours, is totally unacceptable.
Recent media reporting around this issue has identified some worrying behaviours. As we reinforced on Friday, we are not interested in talking about how these types of incidents compare with wider society and other industries in terms of prevalence – if they are happening at all in our workforce, we must take immediate steps to address it.
With this in mind, CME and its member companies will cooperate with and participate in any parliamentary inquiry that may arise around these issues. We’ve also recently established a Safe & Respectful Behaviours Working Group that will involve senior work, health and safety and diversity and inclusion representatives from a range of member companies.
Another high-profile issue for our sector is the skills shortages being experienced across Australia by a variety of industries. Last week CME released details from an in-depth piece of resources-specific workforce modelling we commissioned in relation to the skills situation.
You can read more about this in the Featured section of this newsletter but the headline figures are that the WA mining and resources sector could need as many as 40,0000 additional skilled workers over the next two years, with the potential for a shortfall of 33,000 if the challenge is not addressed.
CME and a number of member companies will be active participants in the WA Government’s upcoming Skills Summit. With representation across a variety of industries and levels of government, this event is a rare opportunity for WA’s business community as a whole to come together, work through shared issues and identify solutions that will benefit the State going forward.
Additionally, CME has put a lot of work into building its jobsinresources.com.au website, aimed at highlighting some of thousands of opportunities that are currently available in mining and resources.
It’s been good to see the number of member companies supporting the site over the past few months and we hope there will be plenty more coming on board in the near future.
