Australian Trans-National Companies Australians like to think that "their" corporations are somehow different to other transnational corporations. They like to believe that somehow they have different moral and ethical standards to foreign transnationals. Well the present legal debate about the plight of the Papuan New Guinea villagers who live down stream of the Ok Tedi and Fly River has torn major holes into this little fantasy. It looks like the "Big Australian" the flagship of Australia's transnational corporations has used every trick in the book to generate a tidy profit for its shareholders. The "Big Australian" in conjunction with the Papua New Guinea government (also a shareholder in this joint venture) began production at Ok Tedi in 1984. Initially the company and the government had planned to build a tailings dam (common practice in any major mining venture in Australia) to hold the by products of mining. Unfortunately BHP and the government seemed to have "forgotten" that the Ok Tedi mine was situated in a region that is prone to landslides and earthquakes. In their wisdom they decided that it was technic@lly impossible to build a tailings dam. (In 1995 they still keep saying they're working on it). Instead of waiting to find a technological solution to the problem they decided that it was important that mining began as soon as possible. Well you understand they had invested lots of money in the project and they needed to generate a profft for their shareholders. So in their unfailing wisdom they decided that the local inhabitants were the disposable factor in their plans (well they and the government needed the money didn't they) and they began mining. Since 1984 they have discharged over 80,000 tons of tailings per day into the Ok Tedi and Fly River. Over ten years down the track the local inhabitants find that their gardens and environment are devastated. People who have lived in these areas for generations now find that they are strangers in their own land (an all too familiar occurrence in many areas of the world where mining occurs). As far as the Papuan New Guinea government was concerned, the dispossession of the local inhabitants was the price that the country needed to pay in order to have access to that all important cargo cult manna - foreign currency. Unfortunately nobody had told the local inhabitants that they were the disposable cog in this little equation. By 1994 the local inhabitants realised that they would , receive no justice or for that matter compensation from their own government, so they, in conjunction with Slater and Gordon a major Melbourne law firm decided to launch a four billion dollar compensation claim in the Victorian Supreme Court. They chose to launch their legal action in Melbourne Australia because BHP the "friendly transnational" has its headquarters in Melbourne. The launch of this legal action finally prodded the "Big Australian" into taking some action. In a move that highlights the power transnational corporations have over governments in developing nations, B HP and the Papua New Guinea government decided that the best way to ] nip this little act of legal rebellion in the bud was by the Papua New Guinea government passing legislation that would make it illegal to mount any court action for compensation and make it illegal for anyone to actually be involved in investigations that could lead to a compensation case. By this time the proverbial shit had hit the fan because the plight of the Ok Tedi and Fly River people was not only known in Papua New Guinea, but also in Australia and the world. The Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne has found the "Big Australian" in criminal contempt of the courts and in its wisdom has decided that the local inhabitants have a case to mount. In manoeuvring's behind the scenes the Victorian Attorney General is about the appeal the Victorian Supreme Courts decision that found BHP in criminal contempt of the Supreme Court. It looks like the Attorney General feels that the courts may have overstepped their jurisdiction. If this appeal is not successful BHP will begin its own appeal process. We all know how these people and corporations who have access to large sums of money seem to be able to manipulate the legal system to their own lo@g ermadvantage. As this saga continues, the OK Tedi mine continues to pour 80,000 tons of tailings into the OK Tedi and Fly River per day and the local inhabitants have nowhere to go (except possibly the sprawling urban slums around Papua New Guinea towns). It's amazing that BHP and the Papua Guinea government have not learnt the lesson of Bougainville. CRA and the Papua New Guinea governments inability to deal with the traditional landowners grievances with the Bougainville mine led to the closure of the mine, a rebellion which is still going on and has led to the deaths of over 3,000 people. It will be interesting to note whether the local people on the OK Tedi and Fly River will receive any justice from the Australian legal system. If they don't it's possible that the Papua New Guinea governmen@ and BHP will be faced with another armed rebellion. Those Australians who have shares in BHP (the gentle corpoMte giant) and many do, now have to make a very important moral, ethical and economic decision. Do they continue to support BHP and squirrel away their profits or do they pull their money out and reinvest it in ethically sound projects? ANARCHIST AGE WEEKLY REVIEW 168 PO BOX 20, PARKVILLE, VIC 3052 AUSTRALIA Monetary contributions welcome!