Derailment work should focus on locals
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IT was frustrating to hear that heavy haulage machinery was being used from as far away as Mackay for the clean-up at the Julia Creek train derailment site.
Local contractors are desperate for work and when a major incident such as this happens on their patch, they are overlooked in favour of out-of-towners.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, the relationship with local contractors has been abused by the corporates.
Our local contractors have the experience and skills, unbeatable knowledge of the area, and it doesn’t take them one-and-a-half days to be on-site.
They should be the first ones these corporates look to do the work when a significant job arises.
It’s good enough for the local contractors to be called out to help at a derailment when it happens on the rail line at 2am in the morning, but when it comes to more meaningful long-term contracts, the corporates look elsewhere.
There has been some benefit to the Julia Creek and surrounding economy from the derailment work, but I’m bemused why Aurizon didn’t want the local knowledge of nearby contractors on the site.
When there’s a crisis, the locals scramble to help out in any way possible, but that’s not reciprocated when they look for contractors to do the heavy lifting.
The locals deserve the work because every dollar they earn goes back into the town.
Communication improvements vital in remote areas
CONGRATULATIONS to Burke Shire Mayor Ernie Camp on the recent announcement of internet upgrades in the Gulf Country.
Burke Shire Council was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Building our Regions Regional Infrastructure Fund with $1.94million contributed from the State Government towards the $3.8million project.
It’s a constant battle to access reliable telecommunications in the area and there is still plenty of work to be done across the Mount Isa electorate.
I was angered by the slow response to restore mobile and internet coverage in Croydon earlier last month, with much of the Shire left without access to mobile phone and internet coverage for more than a week.
Croydon Shire Council was left in the dark with miscommunication from Telstra customer service representatives.
Council representatives reported the issue to Telstra immediately, but there was a breakdown in communication because community members were being told there was no issue and it had been fixed, despite that clearly not being the case.
I’ve been told one contractor in Croydon missed out a significant job because he was uncontactable for eight days.
Whatever the issue was – whether it’s a communication breakdown or a maintenance problem - it’s simply unacceptable for the Shire to be without mobile phone and internet coverage for more than a week and it wouldn’t be tolerated in more populated areas.
ENDS