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Fishermen past the mine tailings causeway at Calacan Bay on Marinduque Island in the Philippines.

The role of government

The Australian mining industry is increasingly active overseas — more than 220 Australian mining companies currently operate in African countries alone. The Australian government is a strong supporter of our mining industry’s overseas activities, providing export finance, marketing and diplomatic support.

The Australian Government should also ensure that Australian companies are operating in accordance with international best-practice standards, including those related to human rights and transparency. If this does not occur, the government should investigate and call to account companies whose practices are causing harm or breaking national and/or international laws, or other standards.

Oxfam is calling on the Australian Government to:

Oxfam also supports multilateral and global initiatives to improve mining practice, such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the UN’s “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework for business and human rights.

Oxfam’s submissions to Government

Oxfam is actively lobbying the Australian Government, calling for it to improve its regulation of Australian mining activities overseas.

Our submissions to government can be found here:

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