Mining giant BHP accused of ‘virtue signalling’ after $2 million Voice donation as it faces $70 billion lawsuit

Australia’s biggest company has had its massive Voice stance called into question by a prominent law firm accusing it of virtue signalling.

The biggest company in Australia has come under fire over its $2 million donation in support of the Voice to Parliament, with one prominent law firm accusing it of hypocrisy.

BHP — the largest mining company in the world by market capitalisation — handed over the money to support the Yes campaign as Australians prepare to head to the polls on October 14.

At the same time, British lawyers from Pogust Goodhead are leading a $70 billion class action against the mining giant over the Samarco mine disaster in Brazil in 2015.

In November of that year, the Fundão tailings dam in the nation’s south-east collapsed, releasing 40 million cubic metres of toxic mining waste, killing 19 people, destroying 700 homes and affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who live along the River Doce.

A total of 700,000 people – many of them belonging to Indigenous communities – are pursuing a class action suit against BHP in the UK for its role in the dam failure.

Almost eight years on, lawyers from Pogust Goodhead have arrived in Australia to lobby politicians and mining representatives, warning that BHP’s support of Indigenous communities only goes so far.

Tom Goodhead, CEO of Pogust Goodhead, has travelled to Australia to lobby politicians, super funds, and investors ahead of a major shareholder meeting for BHP.

Brazilian Indigenous tribes who protested against BHP in London have also joined the effort in Australia.

In June, BHP’s Australian president Geraldine Slattery told the Australian Financial Review that the mining giant’s relationship with Indigenous Australians is “fundamentally important to our company”.

“We operate on traditional lands and we engage and partner widely with Indigenous communities and traditional owners,” she said.

“We are the largest resources sector employer of Indigenous Australians and we are a rapidly growing partner to Indigenous-owned businesses.”

But Goodhead doesn’t buy it.

The Samarco mine disaster in Brazil resulted in 19 deaths and 700 destroyed homes in 2015.

Brazilian Indigenous tribes who protested against BHP in London have also joined the effort in Australia.

“BHP’s donation to the Voice campaign is an absolute textbook example of greenwashing. I think it’s effectively virtue signalling from a large corporation,” Goodhead said in an interview with news.com.au.

Goodhead said no amount of appointed sustainability managers or pledges to promote environmental, social, and corporate governance initiatives would erase the fact that thousands of people were still without a home in Brazil.

“It’s very easy to virtue signal with a donation to a political campaign to put some nice puffery on your website,” he said. “It’s different to actually resolving issues as seen in Brazil.”

The Pogust Goodhead touring party has met with MPs and crossbenchers in Canberra and will travel to BHP’s headquarters in Melbourne to engage with unions, super funds, investors, and local Indigenous representatives.

“The reaction has been one of surprise actually,” Goodhead said. “This has been a little off the radar. This happened nearly eight years ago. Given the passage of time, it’s understandable that this disaster isn’t at the front of Australians’ minds at the moment.”

But the degree of the impact the Samarco dam collapse has had on thousands of people’s lives is undeniable.

“I think it’s a bit of a learning experience. We need conversations to tell people what has happened,” he continued.

BHP has said it will defend against the compensation claims, saying they are doubling up on its existing and ongoing work to compensate communities affected by the disaster.

Local class action lawyers have brought a separate case, alleging that BHP breached continuous disclosure obligations and engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct, bringing the total claims against BHP related to the disaster to over $100 billion.

Employees of Brazilian mining company Samarco monitor rebuilding sites.

BHP’s annual report from the previous year estimated the damage at $US3.3 billion, but the latest annual report admits they cannot quantify the cost, and the company reported a 37 per cent decrease in underlying profit to $US13.4 billion last month.

The lawyers pushing the $36 billion claim argue that it is justified given the scale of damage compared to other large-scale disasters like the BP Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez oil spills.

Brazilian Indigenous groups, including the Krenak and Guarani, along with descendants of African slaves (Quilombolas), wrote to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak about the UK case, expressing their grievances and seeking justice.

BHP is vigorously defending the case, claiming that it duplicates much of the compensation and reparation already paid, including over 6 billion Brazilian real ($1.88 billion) to more than 68,000 individuals who are claimants in the UK proceedings.

The Court of Appeal ruled last year that the case can proceed in the English Courts, with a trial scheduled for next October.

BHP is working closely with the Renova Foundation, which has spent more than 30 billion Brazilian real ($9.54 billion) on reparation and compensatory actions, and claims to have made significant progress in payments to individuals and communities affected by the disaster.

The company claims that more than 70 per cent of the resettlement of affected communities is complete, with improvements in the River Dolce and the resumption of fishing in some areas.

BHP is Australia’s biggest company. Picture: Supplied

In a statement to news.com.au, a BHP representative said their donation to the Yes campaign was a “voluntary social investment”.

“Our relationships with Traditional Owners and other Indigenous stakeholders are fundamentally important to BHP and our business,” they said.

“We operate on the traditional lands of Indigenous peoples across Australia and around the world. We partner widely with Indigenous communities and have long-term agreements with Traditional Owners, who are critical to BHP’s ability to start new projects, expand existing projects, and to BHP’s operational continuity.

“Our relationships with Traditional Owners are, as a result, central to our business success, and the creation of long-term value for BHP’s shareholders.”

In regards to the UK class action, the BHP spokesperson said they were fighting the legal fight and denied all claims of the company’s wrongdoing.

“BHP will continue to defend the UK group action and denies the claims in their entirety,” the said.

“This action is also unnecessary as it duplicates matters already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and other legal proceedings in Brazil.”

They said they had already paid reparations totalling BRL 30 billion (A$9.6 billion) to over 427,000 people, many of those Indigenous individuals and families.

Originally published as Mining giant BHP accused of ‘virtue signalling’ after $2 million Voice donation as it faces $70 billion lawsuit