Unethical practices by Australian mining companies
Article “Australian mining giants ‘may be breaking law’ by ignoring climate change risks”
On the 4th of December, 2018 Ben seem a business journalist circulated a small report in online newspaper ‘The Guardian’ under the titled “Australian mining giants ‘may be breaking law’ by ignoring climate change risks”. This article comprises the all the information’s of unethical practices done by big Australian giant mining companies beside of having strict laws against such practices. This article also includes the various questions which were being asked to the directors of some of the big giant and them shameless reply to these answers in response to these questions. It also includes the actual mindset of these big organizations towards the seriousness of Paris agreement which was organization for forming safety rules related to the climate change.
It is this business ethics which regulates the behavior and actions of an organization in favor of a society of the country and also for the business world. It does not only control the actions of the employees in the organization but also in their personal life by motivating them to behave in a direction which is important from humanity aspects (Waples, Antes, Murphy, Connelly & Mumford, 2009). Similar, Australia also follows business ethics in their country related to all kind of businesses especially those in which they are always a chance of risk to the employees’ life as well as the environment that is mining. The Australian government has formed strict rules and regulation related to mining but still, there are many reports of unethical business practices in these areas.
Under this article, it has been found out that many mining companies see climate control as barriers to their financial aspects and hence try their every business tactics to overlook these climate change risks. A report was published by Australian securities and investments commission; it has been found out that big mining giants of Austrian mining industries are involved in a breach of conduct related to climate change risks by neglecting the impact of their action on the community (Smee, 2018). The government of Australian always form a pressure on the business market to conduct a business meeting every year to discuss the concerns related to environmental sustainability also involving shareholders of the organization. But to their surprise, the organizations have directly ignored all the aspect related to climate change by offering the statement that it is creating a risk to their financial capability but as per law it is the first priority of the director of any organization to consider these climate changes as an important part of their operations (Lau, 2010). It has been found that directors of these organizations have clearly breached all the legal responsibilities related to the business ethics and are actually admitting that they have done this on the open platform of a business meeting conducted by shareholders. When one question regarding the Paris agreement was asked from Chairman Ian Middlemas of Prairie mining AGM, his reply was very shocking from an ethical point of view. He answered that it is not on their radar which means they are overlooking the laws and are practicing these unethical practices on an open platform for personal gain.
The impact of neglecting climate change risks on stakeholders
These statements are now becoming real concerns related to ethical business practices. For suppose if it is being asked to Energy drink manufacturing that does you add preservatives to their product and their reply will be we are going to take care of it. Hence there are ample chances that other manufacturer will get motivated from these acts or are in fact practicing such unethical things in their organizations (Gilbert & Rasche, 2008).
Such acts of unethical business practices are actually surrounded us in a circle of what has been done by forming ideas related to climate change controls and what has been done related to spreading awareness about the Paris agreement. It is just giving an impression that was are living in Perth and are thinking about Sydney.
Similar kind of question was asked to the chairman of Senex energy related to the climate change laws in terms of carbon emission which is known as one of the main reason for bringing uncertain change in the climate. It was asked that do their company operate their process in a range of 2C OR 3C temperature. Without showing any hesitation in his answer, he replied that the company do not operate their process on both of the temperature regulation, neither 2C nor 3C. It seems that organization in Australia are becoming very mean when it comes to profit-making, they are ready to overlook every single law related to the climate control but are not ready to give up some kind of decrease in their profit percentage (Kolk & Van Tulder, 2010). They do not even care about the community in which they are operating and are indirectly motivating other organization to go for similar kind of acts by motivating their employees to do such unethical practices by offer them indirect bribes like increase in their salary along with developing unethical organization culture in which everyone has to contribute to the profit-making objective of the company leaving behind ethical business practices (Knechel, Krishnan, Pevzner, Shefchik & Velury, 2012).This organization plays their business tactics in such a way that the government was not able to track whether the company is operating on 2C or 3C and this loophole provides them the opportunity by which they are manipulating the regulator climate control temperature.
An audit was carried by ASIC in which it has involved around 60 companies and was surprised that out of 60 companies only 10 companies feel that climates can be a risk for materials. In this audit, those companies were also involved which conducts climate risk meeting every year and has not disclosed any kind of statement concerning their financial impact (Xu, Jiang, Fargher & Carson, 2011). It becomes the duty of the director of the organization to offer an analytical statement in which they have to consider all the risk factors related to the climate change control along with the measurement methods so that government will be able to track all the activities of the organization related to these unethical practices.
The Australian government’s strict rules and regulations for mining
It is not only government which forms ethical rules for the organization but even organization also forms their own guidelines in a director which will not only benefit the organization but also the employees of the organization (Garavan & McGuire, 2010). Performing ethical business practices not only help the organization to avoid any kind of penalty but it also helps the organization to create a unique image in the business world which in return helps the organization to attract a large pool of brilliant minds towards them, loyalty from customers as well as attracting a large number of investors.
At present time people all over the world are getting more sensitive related the issues which can impact the society on a global platform. The latest trend of business has moved from profit-making towards the solving issues related to the community on the global level (Vilanova, Lozano & Arenas, 2009). But still there are some organizations which overlook these business ethics for their profit making and one such incident has occurred in Australia related to mining industries which are been accused of overlook the laws related to climate control laws of Australia.
In September 2013, seeing the sensitivity of this climate issue, both the Australian government and its opposition party jointly announced the campaigns related to the climate control changes. One of the biggest concerns for the government was how to control carbon emission in business operation because it leads to the Greenhouse gas effect which pollutes the environment (CHN, 2013). This issue is not new; it is a serious issue right from 1990 in politics of Austria till now and hence came up with the formation of the first national government agency that will mainly focus on the greenhouse emission of gas released by the operation of any organization. Because of these issues, the politics of Australia is now revolving around the regulation of carbon emission, as voters also cast their vote on the base of parties’ position to control carbon emission.
According to scholars, the government must focus on the center for policy department in order to handle these kinds of issues which will warn those organizations which are involved in unethical climate control practices by displaying the outcome of being involved in such practices. In 2018, Australia government has formed their rules on the base of environmental policies which is being guided by the ideologies of eco-sustainable development. It has become compulsory to effectively manage all the resources in both natural as well as man-made form and must include public in all climate-related decisions. According to the law it is the duty of the state as well as territories for the major portion of the environmental issues by offering some of the power to the governments of those zones (ICLG, 2018). It is compulsory that each state and territories must their own regulation department which will take care of all these environmental matters and has been added in the constitution of Australia.
Under this law, the agencies overpower the offender to reduce the amount of harm caused by them to the climate and monitor the activities related to compliance. In this, the offender is charged with penalties which range from fines to year for imprisonment along with forcing the offender to compulsory take a training program related to such activities (Thomson & Wilson, 2009). It is the duty of the agency to carry the audit process around every financial year in order to have clarity about the data because at this time every organization will be in the process of earning money only.
Breaches of conduct related to climate change risks
The Australian government also provides power to the public to file or report any kind of such incidents in their society because ultimately it affects the surrounds of those communities in which these organizations are operating. The government has provided all the related information about climate change and land regulations on online so that a common individual will be able to read it and try to understand the seriousness of the concern related to climate (Law, Dollard, Tuckey & Dormann, 2011).
Under this law, any organization which is operated on the land of Australia has to take license to pollute under which the organization while providing an agreement to follow all the rule and regulations which are associated with the climate control. The organization has to display its all activities related to the emission of carbon on a yearly base otherwise a fine will be imposed on the organization. Permits will be given only on the fulfillment of all the condition and have to pay a yearly registration fee (Yi, et al., 2010). If the regulation department found any kind of breach with this law, then the department has the necessary power to cancel the permit of the organization. Without this permit, no organization or company can operate on Australian land but still, there is some loophole in the law, whose advantage has been taken by many Australian mining organizations and is continuing such practices after being fined. This happens because the present business world is the world of corporates and they have very strong relations with some of the political parties because of their heavy bank balance. It has been seen that in many cases complaints have been done but due to their strong political connections, they have been given clean chits on the base of lack of evidence.
Hence the government agency must first collect necessary evidence and must be submitted to the apex court so that no political support or help can be the offered to these offenders by any political party in order to gain financial fund during election time. It will be just a matter for little time when the directors of the organization will face actions if they failed to disclose any related information related to the climate-related risk which can create any kind of harm to both the society as well as the individual living in those societies (Thomson & Wilson, 2009). These actions will not be only part of legal requirements but will be also part of ethical business practices in this dynamic world. In order to keep the organization operating the directors have to first meet all the conditions related to the climate control change laws then have to think about the financial gain of the organization because there can be case in which seeing the frustration level of the shareholder, the director may think of overlook these laws but at the same time the consequence of breaching these laws can result in to end of directors career along with imprisonment.
Challenges in monitoring and enforcing ethical business practices
Ethics are not only building blocks of the community but it is also the building blocks of the corporates functioning in the marketplace. Every organization is actually involved in many activities which have a direct or indirect impact on the society. So, it becomes the duty of the government to maintain the rule and regulation by which the organization operating on the country land will not overlook laws related to climate changes or any business ethics in order to gain financial advantage. The government must conduct a training program which will provide all the necessary information regarding the rule and regulation of business ethics along with the information of a breach of conduct done by various organizations. The government will also display the consequences of a breach of conduct in front of the community. Business ethics is not only the duty of government but it is also the responsibility of the organization because they every action is attached with the community and hence by following the business ethics the organization will be able to form a unique image which will be appreciated by the community for following business ethics. It is also the responsibility of the society to report or inform any kind of such incidents happening around their society and if it is of serious offense then any individual has full authority to file a case in the apex court of Australia.
References
Smee, B. (2018). Australian mining giants ‘may be breaking law’ by ignoring climate change risks [online]. Retrieved from : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/dec/05/australian-mining-giants-may-be-breaking-law-by-ignoring-climate-change-risks
ICLG. (2018). Environment and climate law Australia 2018 [online]. Retrieved from: https://iclg.com/practice-areas/environment-and-climate-change-laws-and-regulations/australia
CHN. (2013). Australian climate change law [online]. Retrieved from: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2013/08/06/australias-climate-change-laws/
Shao, R., Aquino, K., & Freeman, D. (2008). Beyond moral reasoning: A review of moral identity research and its implications for business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18(4), 513-540.
Waples, E. P., Antes, A. L., Murphy, S. T., Connelly, S., & Mumford, M. D. (2009). A meta-analytic investigation of business ethics instruction. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(1), 133-151.
Garavan, T. N., & McGuire, D. (2010). Human resource development and society: Human resource development’s role in embedding corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and ethics in organizations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 12(5), 487-507.
Vilanova, M., Lozano, J. M., & Arenas, D. (2009). Exploring the nature of the relationship between CSR and competitiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(1), 57-69.
Lau, C. L. (2010). A step forward: Ethics education matters!. Journal of Business Ethics, 92(4), 565-584.
Gilbert, D. U., & Rasche, A. (2008). Opportunities and problems of standardized ethics initiatives–a stakeholder theory perspective. Journal of business ethics, 82(3), 755-773.
Kolk, A., & Van Tulder, R. (2010). International business, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. International business review, 19(2), 119-125.
Xu, Y., Jiang, A. L., Fargher, N., & Carson, E. (2011). Audit reports in Australia during the global financial crisis. Australian Accounting Review, 21(1), 22-31.
Knechel, W. R., Krishnan, G. V., Pevzner, M., Shefchik, L. B., & Velury, U. K. (2012). Audit quality: Insights from the academic literature. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 32(1), 385-421.
Law, R., Dollard, M. F., Tuckey, M. R., & Dormann, C. (2011). Psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of workplace bullying and harassment, job resources, psychological health and employee engagement. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 43(5), 1782-1793.
Yi, C., Ricciuto, D., Li, R., Wolbeck, J., Xu, X., Nilsson, M., & De Araujo, A. C. (2010). Climate control of terrestrial carbon exchange across biomes and continents. Environmental Research Letters, 5(3), 034007.
Jung, M., Reichstein, M., Ciais, P., Seneviratne, S. I., Sheffield, J., Goulden, M. L., & Dolman, A. J. (2010). Recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture supply. Nature, 467(7318), 951.
Thomson, G., & Wilson, N. (2009). Public attitudes to laws for smoke-free private vehicles: a brief review. Tobacco control, 18(4), 256-261.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
