Australia

Recent activities

10 April 2013 – PWYP Australia’s Claire Spoors has blogged about a recent lobby trip to Canberra she went on with Burmese activists organised by coalition member, the Burma Campaign Australia. The purpose of the trip, amongst other things, was to tell parliamentarians about the need for transparency of payments by extractive companies to the Burmese Government.

8 February 2013 – The Australian Government has announced that it’s considering measures to force large multinational corporations operating in Australia to publicly reveal how much tax they pay. See PWYP Australia’s release and 3 things’ blog on the announcement and listen to Mark Zirnsak, from the Tax Justice Network, explaining on SBS radio how these measures would encourage corporations to pay their fair share of tax.

17 January 2013 – In this article, Serena Lillywhite, Oxfam Australia’s Mining Advocacy Lead, explains how transparency of payments made by Australian mining companies to Governments where they operate could help ensure that local communities benefit from their natural resource wealth.

10 December 2012 – The Australian Government has announced that it is setting up a specialist reference group to look at the taxation of multinational enterprises in Australia. The group will include PWYP members, Oxfam and Uniting Church. Read about it here and Oxfam’s media release on the announcement here.

6 December 2012 – This investigative report by PWYP member Jubilee Australia highlights circumstances, events and impacts associated with Exxon Mobil’s US $19 billion Gas Project in Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands.

24 August 2012 – PWYP Australia published a press release following the SEC’s release of the rules governing Section 1504 of Dodd-Frank in the US, Australia should follow US in fighting corruption

07 August 2012 – Following Australia’s silver successes, Liz Barrett has written about the Anvil Silver Mine in DRC. Liz Barrett is Co-Director of AID/WATCH, a member organisation of PWYP Australia. Read it here.

06 August 2012 – Following Australia’s plethora of bronzes, PWYP Australia’s Claire Spoors has blogged on BHP Billiton’s copper exploitation at its Olympic dam mine in South Australia. Read it here.

03 August 2012 – PWYP International’s Joseph Williams has blogged about Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto, and their foray into transparency. Read it here.

30 July 2012 – Following Australia’s first gold medal of the games, PWYP Australia member Peter Colley gives an overview of gold mining company and supplier of the games Rio Tinto. Peter Colley is National Research Director of the Mining and Energy division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union and member of PWYP Australia. Read it here.

27 July 2012 – PWYP International has launched the PWYP Olympic blog series. Over the next couple of weeks, when a country that is rich in gold, silver or copper wins the equivalent medal (we’re cheating a bit and using copper to represent bronze) we’ll post a blog on the mining of that resource.

2 April 2012 – The ASX has published its consultation feedback on enhancing the requirements for listed mining, oil and gas companies. The ASX acknowledges that it received 18 submissions advocating for the disclosure of payments made to governments and that it was identified that such information would help investors assess the financial, political and reputational risks faced by particular companies. However, the ASX concluded that it was a matter for Government and announced that it would pass all relevant submissions to the Treasury for its consideration.

7 March 2012 – The Sustainability Report published an article about PWYP Australia’s submission to the ASX open consultation on listing rules for the mining and extractives industry. PWYP Australia suggested the ASX could adopt the financial elements from the Canadian legislation, bring it into line with the EU and US, and publish annually what our companies pay.

27 January 2012 – PWYP Australia, along with other PWYP members, sent submissions to the Australian Securities Exchange calling for stronger reporting measures for extractive companies.

16 December 2011- Oxfam Australia and Publish What You Pay Australia have released a joint report, The Australian Securities Exchange: extractive industry companies and payment disclosure. The briefing gives an overview of payment disclosure listing rules for mining, oil and gas companies and how the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative complements such rules. It also makes recommendations to the ASX, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the Australian Government, that rules requiring payment disclosure from extractive industry companies on a country-by-country and project-by-project basis be introduced in Australia.

02 November 2011 – PWYP member Oxfam Australia released a report on the PNG LNG Project. The report examines how best to support community and civil society organisation in ensuring benefits from this project are enjoyed by all Papua New Guineans.

27 October 2011 – the Australia government announced that it would initiate a pilot of the EITI (go here for more information). In an article for Business Day , executive director of Oxfam Australia Andrew Hewett stated that implementing EITI would “allow Australians to access information on the value of our natural resources. The more those affected by mining, such as indigenous communities, know about payments made to governments, the greater the likelihood they can negotiate equitable benefit-sharing agreements.” Read the article in full here.

20 September 2011 – PWYP Australia issued a press release congratulating the US’ decision to join EITI. Read it here or here (PDF).

29 August 2011 – PWYP Australia released their first press release calling on the Australian government to sign up to EITI, you can view it here or in its PDF format. Two members of PWYP Australia were also interviewed on the subject by Australian radio station The Wire.

01 August 2011 – PWYP member Oxfam Australia released a report on the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The report highlights the crucial role Australia can have in making transparency and accountability a global norm by committing to implement the EITI.

10 June 2011 – A wide range of civil society organisations gathered in Melbourne for a PWYP information and strategy development workshop. Hosted by long time PWYP member Oxfam Australia, sessions included an introduction to PWYP, examination of national coalition case studies and a strategy brainstorm for the future of the campaign in Australia.