In previous editorials I have spoken about some of the important issues ahead of the state election this Saturday, issues such as employment, the high cost of flights and youth crime.
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In this edition I want to talk about fly in fly out.
In the old days when companies built mines and other infrastructure in remote areas, people who wanted jobs there had no choice but to live locally.
This was why Mount Isa, founded in 1924, became such a big town.
Even up to the 1950s and 1960s when they found uranium at Mary Kathleen, the decisions were made to set workers up on site.
Yet it is hard to imagine how Mount Isa would have developed had say its mother lode of copper only been discovered in the 1990s.
The likelihood is that while the mine may have developed the same way it did do, the town would not have.
It is likely that given the national preference to live on large coastal communities, the Isa would have been little more than a mine and a nearby large workers camp.
That’s the reality of FIFO projects these days but that doesn’t mean communities like Mount Isa and Cloncurry need to take this lying down.
Cloncurry in particular contributes a huge amount to the state exchequer every year and the handful it gets back (relatively speaking) is small change.
The Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities Act introduced this year is a start but the provisions in the bill to stop 100% FIFO are easily breached simply by having one person employed in the community.
Much more needs to be done to ensure that the north west gets the revenue – and the workers – it deserves to keep the wheels of our economy turning.
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A reminder also that our Traeger candidate forum is on in Mount Isa on Tuesday.
Five of the Traeger candidates (Robbie Katter, Ron Bird, Danielle Slade, Sarah Isaacs and Craig Scriven) will attend and it is your chance to directly ask the questions important to you. It’s on at Spinifex State College, Abel Smith Pde, Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. - Derek Barry
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
