Inaccurate FIFO census data could impact funding to Mount Isa and Cloncurry in next five years

Queensland Census director Caroline Deans said receiving correct data from FIFO workers in Mount Isa and Cloncurry will be one of the key challenges of the census, to be held August 9. 

Population was an important factor in receiving funding from state and federal governments, but had to be recognised formally from the census, she said. 

“By definition you identify where you usually live. Usual means where do you live for more than half the year?,” Ms Deans said. 

“And for a lot of the FIFO they are technically more than half the year in Isa. 

“Their home base may be Townsville, Cairns or Brisbane but they are slightly less than half the year back there, so their usual residence should be Mount Isa.” 

If FIFO workers did not claim their workplace as their usual residence it could affect funding received in the North West.

Ms Deans said that Mount Isa and Cloncurry council representatives were aware of this. 

“The census is used by councils for funding grants and if they believe their population of the town is a couple of thousand people more than the census shows because of these FIFO’s, well, they are not able to include that in their funding grants,” she said. 

Census and Statistical Network Services Division general manager Chris Libreri – who visited Cloncurry and Mount Isa earlier this week with Ms Deans – said that FIFO workers may have an emotional reason for claiming their home as their usual place of residence.

“A lot of FIFO workers would call home where their kids go to school, or where their family is, so we understand there is an emotional bond there. 

“They will probably get most of their services here. There is no doubt where they are on census night.”

Another challenge for reliable data collection in Mount Isa includes the influx of people for the Mount Isa Rodeo, which begins three days after the census.