The North West Minerals Province is a late addition into a series of hearings for the Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities Bill. The hearing will be held from 1pm to 4.30pm.

The short notice of the local hearing comes after local politicians disagreed with the claim from the FIFO committee chair that there were no North West Queensland submissions. 

Cloncurry mayor Greg Campbell said he learned of the local hearing on Monday. He was unable to attend but deputy mayor Dane Swalling will represent the council in his attendance.

“I’ll be asking the chair if I can make my submission by teleconference,” Cr Campbell said. 

He supported the government’s aim of giving communities a say on how many local workers the mines employ. “For our future and to be able to grow and be sustainable we need some staff living locally,” Cr Campbell said. But he also acknowledged that Cloncurry could not support a 100 per cent local workforce from the largest mines such as Ernest Henry and Dugald River. 

“But we want a percentage of it. And we think that a percentage makes good sense for workers, good sense for the mine, and good sense for the community as well.” 

Cr Campbell said each mine needed a different percentage to consider the size of the workforce and the skills they required. 

“We need to sit down with individual mines and have a plan that helps them and helps us,” he said. 

Mount Isa State Member Rob Katter described FIFO as a “blight” on local communities because people that benefited from the wealth spent it in coastal cities. 

“We want the committee to know firsthand how important this inquiry is for the area that requires face to face consultation.

“I urge the community to get involved in the committee process and influence their decisions.” 

Mount Isa mayor Joyce McCulloch said the local hearing was necessary to ensure the North West Minerals Province was represented. “To be heard face to face is a lot different than putting in a submission. It impacts more, it’s a lot more personable,” she said. 

The Mount Isa City Council’s submission would focus on how FIFO impacted the community.

She said local workers moving to Mount Isa brought their families.

“They assist in building the community as well.” 

The mines committing to a percentage of local workers was “probably a starting point”. But it depended on the percentage, she said. 

Cloncurry deputy mayor Dane Swalling said the region needed to be represented in the inquiry but would have preferred the hearing was heard in Cloncurry. “I think FIFO is a bigger issue in Cloncurry than in Mount Isa, myself,” Cr Swalling said. 

“We need people. We’ve got everything else.” 

He supported set percentages of a local workforce from mining companies but believed the sites further from the town would find this commitment harder. 

“Obviously Dugald River is the one we’re targeting with it. They are just starting and is reasonably close to Cloncurry.”