Rio Tinto’s ‘cave-in’: a major boost to shareholder activism

A triumph of shareholder activism in a good cause – or a warning of a serious threat of politically correct agendas to be publicly thrust upon corporate Australia? Good, in the form of London’s Rio Tinto at last recognising its obligations to Australia, may have come from evil, with Rio eventually ‘caving in’ to public pressure in parting with its three senior London-based executives involved in the blast last May that destroyed 46,000-year-old Aboriginal artifacts in pursuit of $135 million worth of Pilbara iron ore.