The issue of Fly In Fly Out did not get much of a look-in in the federal election, perhaps because it is mainly seen as a state issue.
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FIFO is convenient for workers who want to live by the coast but still enjoy high-paid jobs in remote locations.
It is also convenient for companies who have better control over their staff and their movements whether it be on chartered flights, mining camps or buses.
But it is a terrible deal for places like Mount Isa and the towns of North West Queensland which get all of the downsides of a large mining operation on their doorstep but few of the benefits.
Yes I understand that airports, motels, pubs and clubs, and the like do well out of a transient workforce but other businesses not so well.
The wear and tear of mining operations on roads and other facilities is a cost borne by those communities. And only this morning did I hear a speaker at a MineX breakfast talk about the need for a local workforce because without that "we have no social licence to operate".
The Queensland government recognised the issue with the Strong and Sustainable Resource Communities Act introduced last year to ban 100% FIFO mining near towns like Mount Isa and Cloncurry.
However companies can get around this simply by posting one staff member locally which meets the wording of the act but not the intent.
I applaud Robbie Katter not just for coming out against this saying the Act needed to be stronger (it does) but also using hard-earned political capital to name and shame companies who are doing poorly.
He named MMG (Dugald River) and Round Oak (Great Australia Mine Cloncurry) and disappointingly neither company would explain their actions when contacted by the North West Star.
That is poor behaviour but they are not alone in stretching the terms of the Act.
Yes it is important these companies make profits to stay in business. But it is also important for them to show respect to the places where they operate. It is also sound business practice as study after study shows the benefit of a local workforce, not least in the underreported area of mental health - 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.
