# BHP is taking Michael West to court! — feat. Michael West

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-rational-fear-1080338/bhp-is-taking-michael-west-to-court-feat-michael-west
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-rational-fear-1080338/bhp-is-taking-michael-west-to-court-feat-michael-west.md
Podcast: [A Rational Fear](https://stenobird.com/podcast/a-rational-fear-1080338)
Published: 2026-05-20T22:34:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/a-rational-fear-1/episodes/bhp-is-taking-michael-west-to-court-feat-michael-west
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/646ebc5fb383020012ef0cbe/e/6a0e36d9163f100183a0a559/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/a-rational-fear-1080338/episodes/bhp-is-taking-michael-west-to-court-feat-michael-west
Duration seconds: 1593

## Resource

🤑 CHIP IN TO OUR PATREON https://www.patreon.com/ARationalFear 📨 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL LIST: http://www.arationalfear.com/ This week Dan and Lewis Hobba are joined by independent journalist Michael West of Michael West Media — who's being sued by BHP, Australia's biggest company, over his reporting on coal miner Simon Turner's decade-long fight for compensation. Turner broke his back at BHP's Mount Arthur mine in 2015, was misclassified as a "clerical worker," and paid $400 a week for a job whose award rate is $137,000 a year. Sitting behind the lawsuit is a potentially $10 billion labour hire wage theft scandal involving Chandler Macleod and Coal LSL — and the awkward fact that BHP, a $300 billion company, is also the major sponsor of the Walkley Awards while using Minter Ellison to muzzle a four-person independent newsroom. 🤑 CHIP IN TO OUR PATREON https://www.patreon.com/ARationalFear Here's all the fun stuff you get when you sign up to Patreon. 🎧 Get an ad-free and sponsor free version of the show. 🎟 Get early access and discounts to live shows. 🎥 Get early access to final videos, and draft edits of upcoming videos. 👨🏼‍⚖️ Make show suggestions. 💬 Get a link to the A Rational Fear discord. If you enjoyed this please drop us a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/a-rational-fear/id522303261 a Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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## Transcript

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