The Katter's Australian Party wants legislative changes to stamp out unfettered fly-in-fly-out and contract mine employee numbers to protect regional communities.
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The state government introduced the 100% ban on FIFO near towns such as Mount Isa and Cloncurry in 2018 (the Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities Act) with the support of the KAP but now Robbie Katter says the bill is not strong enough.
"The social fabric of Cloncurry and Mount Isa is being destroyed by greedy employment practices that ignored their human impact and were all about mining companies delivering millions of dollars to their bottom lines," Mr Katter said.
Mr Katter named MMG and Round Oak as having a terrible scorecard of FIFO and contractors.
"It is outrageous that mines such as zinc enterprise Dugald River, located 70km out of Cloncurry and with a workforce of more than 400 people, were operating with often below only 10 local employees," Mr Katter said.
"Operators needed to have penalties applied for not meeting the expectations of the local community when it comes to local employment. At the moment all of the mines in the region will come up with one thousand excuses for not having more locals employed."
In response to Mr Katter's questions in parliament on Monday about the issue, Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning Cameron Dick said Dugald River mine was subject to the provisions of the Act and he encouraged Mr Katter to report non-compliance of the law to the Office of the Coordinator-General.
"Round Oak mine is another mine in that area. The same concerns expressed by the member for Traeger were raised by me when I was out there after the floods. We are investigating those matters. The challenge might be that that mine may have 100 fewer employees," Mr Dick said.
Mr Dick said the government was doing an 18-month review into the Act and he was working through the form that review would take.
"Mining companies need to know that, if they are benefiting from the resources of the state, they need to give back to our state. The principal way they can do that is by employing local people," Mr Dick said.
"We have seen a shift in what mining companies are doing. I am not going to have those workers and families in the north-west, not getting the benefit of mining. We will see that (this legislation) is implemented."
Mr Katter said the Act needed to be strengthened to demand more locally-based workers and to deter the rise of contractual workforces.
"In Mount Isa and Cloncurry we get barely any of the royalties paid to the government back - the mines dig the dirt out of our ground, take our resources and have a big impact on our local services," he said.
"We welcome mining interest and support the industry overall, but the primary benefit our communities can get out of any mining expansion is local jobs and the hope that wages received can go back to supporting businesses in the town."
According to the Queensland Resources Council 2018/2019 figures, around 5750 people are employed in mining in the North West Minerals Province of which 52 percent are FIFO and around 1500 are contractors.
Mr Katter said he suspected current FIFO and contractor figures would be even higher.
"There too many contractors in the workforce for a start - Mount Isa is absolutely full of contractors now and it simply should be this way," he said.
"People employed as contractors can't afford to buy a home, the banks won't give them money because they don't have permanent job.
"It all looks good on the bottom line of the mining companies but they are not looking after the towns and by stealth they are ruining the fabric of these communities."
He said the KAP would draft its own legislative changes to ensure the issue was prioritised and acted on with proper penalties given to miners that don't make an effort to contribute permanent jobs to the local community.
The North West Star has contacted MMG and Round Oak for comment.
READ ALSO: Scott Morrison visits Cloncurry
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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.
