Outback Outrage: Billionaire’s Mining Camp Dragged to Court Over Wild Harassment Claims
Female workers are taking Fortescue to federal court after enduring years of creepy behavior, security breaches, and zero respect at remote WA sites.

They out here wilding in the outback, and the corporate higher-ups are finally getting called out for it. Billionaire Andrew Forrest’s mining company, Fortescue, is getting dragged into the Federal Court of Victoria with a massive class action lawsuit. Female workers are standing up and saying enough is enough, exposing years of systemic harassment, straight-up violence, and corporate negligence at these remote Fly-In, Fly-Out (FIFO) sites in Western Australia.
The details in this lawsuit are absolutely wild and show a complete lack of respect. One woman claims a man dragged her into a dark alleyway and tried to force his tongue down her throat. Another sister came back to her private room—the one place she's supposed to be safe—and found some random dude just chilling inside. And as if that wasn't bad enough, another worker reported getting howled at like an animal by a bunch of men when she walked into the communal eating area.
But it gets even crazier. Paris Hamrey, the special counsel from JGA Saddler, revealed that women at these remote camps are actually warned not to wash their underwear in the on-site laundries. Why? Because people are out here stealing women’s undergarments left and right. Hamrey kept it real, saying it’s horrendous that women have to worry about a simple chore like laundry, and warned that this kind of creepy behavior is a major red flag for even worse safety risks down the line.
These remote FIFO sites are set up so workers are stuck out in the middle of nowhere for weeks, living in company-controlled accommodation villages. The lawsuit is trying to prove that Fortescue failed in its duty to protect these women from 2006 all the way to 2025. For nearly twenty years, women were apparently left to fend for themselves while the bosses at the top got rich off their labor.
This isn't even the first time these mining giants have been exposed. This is actually the third class action lawsuit JGA Saddler has slapped on a major mining company, with BHP and Rio Tinto already facing the music in court. The lawyers say the whole industry has a major culture problem, and that almost every woman working these remote sites has had to deal with some form of harassment or discrimination.
When asked about the lawsuit, Fortescue did what corporate suits always do—they hid behind a spokesperson. The company refused to talk about the specific claims, but dropped some dry PR statement about being "committed to a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace." But those empty words don't mean much to the women who had to deal with this madness on the ground.
