Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue faces investor clash on Aboriginal heritage

“This doesn’t align with our view on what is required to establish a legal framework that reflects community expectations and will prevent another Juukan Gorge,” she said.

Influential advisory group Regnan, which advises large investors on voting decisions, recommended supporting the resolution.

Regnan head of advisory Susheela Peres da Costa said the status of WA’s legislative reform process meant now was a “critical moment” for investors to communicate their views to Fortescue through the non-binding resolution.

“A vote for the proposal communicates the expectation that Fortescue Metals Group brings its position into closer alignment the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the relevant global standard, which Australia has endorsed,” she said.

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors also recommended voting in favour, but declined to comment.

Across the mining sector, the loss of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters and the federal inquiry have drawn attention to the power imbalance underpinning relations between mining companies and Indigenous groups, and the failings of outdated WA legislation that solely affords applicants, not traditional owners, the ability to seek reviews of approvals to destroy culturally significant sites.

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With revised legislation now before WA’s parliament, peak Aboriginal groups have united in opposing the introduction of the laws under which the government remains the ultimate decision-maker about works affecting heritage sites.

“Traditional owners have not been properly consulted on heritage for which they own and care, and the bill should not be presented to state Parliament in its current form,” the WA Alliance of Native Title Representative Bodies and Service Providers said.

Fortescue said it supported the proposed reforms, including an “increased voice” for Aboriginal people and equitable rights of appeal for all parties. While it worked closely with native-title partners to secure agreement for activities on their ancestral land, chief executive Elizabeth Gaines said there was an important role for governments to make decisions balancing heritage preservation with jobs and growth in circumstances where agreement cannot be reached.

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), the shareholder activist group that prepared the motion ahead of the Fortescue meeting, said Aboriginal groups’ request for a “seat at the table” was modest and reasonable.

ACCR legal counsel James Fitzgerald said investors were noting a gulf between companies’ rhetoric and actions.

“For most of last year during the Juukan inquiry, we were treated to a constant stream of expressions of regret and remorse and even love for traditional owners by the big three miners,” Mr Fitzgerald said. “Yet cut to 2021, and what do we see now? All of them are going quiet … not a single one will make a public gesture of support for a very reasonable and modest Aboriginal position.”

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