Breaking: Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest warns Fortescue staff after sexual harassment class action

Fri 26 Jun 2026 at 5:57pm

Fri 26 Jun 2026 at 5:57pm

Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest has issued a statement warning all staff at Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) after a class action alleging sexual harassment was filed against the company yesterday.

In the class action, several women alleged they were raped, sexually assaulted and stalked at FMG remote mining sites.

In an email sent to all staff, Mr Forrest said: "Anyone who thinks this behaviour has a place at Fortescue is in the wrong company."

"Losing your job is the beginning of the consequences, not the end," Mr Forrest said in the email.

"Where conduct amounts to criminal behaviour, we will support our people and expect the law to take its course."

"We first learned the detail of these allegations through the media. They are serious. They are disturbing. They concern behaviour that has no place at Fortescue."

Mr Forrest said women at FMG must feel they were "safe, respected and backed" by the company.

"We have worked hard to build a company where women can thrive and lead, and where they are strongly represented across leadership, our operations, and throughout the whole company," he said.

Mr Forrest said women made up 50 per cent of the FMG board and 25 per cent of the company's entire workforce, including almost 40 per cent of senior leadership.

"But numbers alone are never enough," he said in the statement.

"You can recruit great people, but if they don't feel safe and respected or see a future here, they won't stay."

The class action lawsuit comes two years after BHP and Rio Tinto were taken to federal court over similar allegations.

In 2023 FMG was ordered to spend more than $1.4 million addressing inappropriate workplace behaviour after allegedly failing to provide documents about dozens of sexual harassment allegations to the Western Australian work safety regulator.

In a statement at the time, a Fortescue spokesperson said the company was "committed to upholding the highest standards of workplace health and safety."

Fortescue has said it has spent $300 million upgrading site security, including deadlocks, CCTV, duress app capability, swipe-card access systems  and lighting at its mining sites.

FMG is the world's fourth largest iron exporter and has a market cap of more than $60bn.