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.
