George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I pay tribute to the member for Capricornia for bringing forward this motion on fly-in fly-out workers, with support from me and the member for Flynn. I thank the member for Perth for her comments in support of the concerns we have. In 2011, the then Bligh Labor government approved a BMA application for a 100 per cent fly-in fly-out operation at two new mines, at Caval Ridge and Daunia, both in the Central Queensland region. The only way you can work in either of those operations is to get on a plane from either Brisbane or Cairns and fly in for work.

I have heard directly from the member for Capricornia, and it has been recounted to me a few times by various organisations, of the case of a family that lived 15 minutes from a mine site out at Moranbah, and in order to retain his job the worker goes to the Moranbah airport, flies down to Brisbane, gets on another plane in Brisbane, flies back to Moranbah, gets on a bus, drives past the family home, stays in the mining camp for a week and is not allowed, in the time he is there, to go back and see his family. That local town has been devastated by those sorts of practices. There is no confidence there and there are extreme fears for the future. Families which still have employment fear that their kids will be unlikely to get jobs there in the future. The decision of the former Labor government set a very dangerous precedent—it has established a new norm. I do acknowledge that the policy continues with the support of the state LNP government.

The economy of Mackay, which is in my electorate, has been very much geared towards servicing the mining sector. There are a lot of jobs in the region in the mining and mining services sectors, but more than 8,000 of those jobs have been lost in recent years. In Moranbah, there are something like 200 vacant rental properties. In Mackay, there are well over 1,000. Just last month Ergon Energy reported that there were almost 2½ thousand properties in Mackay with the power switched off—at the owner's request. These are just homes sitting vacant. These are not homes where the electricity has been cut off because people have unpaid bills; these are just homes that are completely vacant. If you know the history of Mackay's vacancy rates, that is unbelievable—that it has gone to that level so quickly. Literally thousands of families have left their homes in Mackay. The region has had to bear the brunt of this downturn in the mining sector.

We had to bear some pain through the boom, but we were making money then and we could deal with it. During the boom, there was an issue of homelessness—because there were not enough properties. There were people living in tents, shipping containers and cars. Rents in Moranbah reached $4,000 a week, but they were being paid by people who could afford it because of their mining wages. This reverse has caused great hardship and there is no upside. Again I say that what is happening now sets a dangerous precedent. The business community has absolutely no confidence.

This is all the legacy of the decision, made by the previous state Labor government, to allow a 100 per cent fly-in fly-out workforce. When I hear the complaints coming from the local state Labor member, Mr Tim Mulherin—who was actually a cabinet minister in that government—attacking the decision, I think: 'Goodness me! Where were you in the cabinet room when that decision was made?' People like that should be apologising to the region for letting this happen.

I believe that a 100 per cent fly-in fly-out workforce is a cancer. Last year the Standing Committee on Regional Australia tabled a report, Cancer of the bush or salvation for our cities?, which looked at this issue of fly-in fly-out workforces. It will be interesting to see the government response, which is coming out very soon. I see the former minister here in the room. I hope he is going to explain why he did not give a response to that report during his time in government.

See this speech in context