Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that 100 per cent fly-in fly-out company workforce agreements in Central Queensland's coal mining belt are causing concern amongst residents and small business owners in small local mining towns; and

(2) encourages Parliament to discuss some of the recommendations in the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia's report Cancer of the bush or salvation of our cities (13 February 2013) to determine if they are relevant to the ongoing issue now faced in mining towns in the electoral divisions of Capricornia, Dawson and Flynn.

Once again, the policy of 100 per cent fly-in fly-out workers, otherwise known as FIFO workers, in our mining industry is having a detrimental impact on small towns in Central Queensland. This region is the economic heart of the nation's coalmining sector. In Capricornia, the affected towns include Moranbah, Dysart, Middlemount and Nebo. Under 100 per cent FIFO, workers are flown in directly from Cairns, Brisbane and the Gold Coast to work on some of Central Queensland coalmines. Local people are locked out from applying, even though the mine is less than 30 minutes from where they live.

Today I urge the House of Representatives to recognise that 100 per cent FIFO agreements in the Central Queensland coalmining belt are causing concern amongst residents and small business owners in small mining towns and that parliament discuss some of the recommendations in the 2013 report on FIFO titled Cancer of the bush or salvation for our cities? to determine if they are relevant to the ongoing issue now faced in mining towns in the electorates of Capricornia, Dawson and Flynn.

In Queensland, coal companies were granted permission by the previous state Labor government, under the leadership of Anna Bligh, to initially engage 100 per cent FIFO workforces. This policy has since been supported by the current state LNP government. As the federal member for Capricornia, my view is very different to my state government colleagues'. I say no to 100 per cent FIFO, because it is having a dire impact on morale, small business, schools, families and local towns. If local people cannot get work and live in local communities, they simply leave. The consequence is that small business suffers, schools lose resources and other services begin to dwindle.

Last week I visited Moranbah and was told that 100 per cent FIFO workers are bussed from the airport to an allocated mining camp, where some are told they are not allowed to leave or go into town where they could spend money locally. Many small business owners reported huge falls in revenue. Motel owners in Moranbah and Nebo also report huge drops in business, normally sustained by mining staff or contractors staying in the town. One owner claims to be operating at just 15 per cent occupancy and is likely to be out of business before the end of the year. Another motelier said he was operating at 20 per cent occupancy compared to a year ago, when he had a 95 per cent occupancy rate. Both attribute at least part of the slump to 100 per cent FIFO and the negative hype associated with it.

The exodus of local families being forced to seek work elsewhere has hit the housing sector. Real estate agents report at least 200 rental properties are now vacant in Moranbah, leaving landlords struggling to meet repayments. I was told that a four-bedroom home that cost $1 million in 2011 would be lucky to attract $250,000 today. Of course people investing in property in these towns must always shoulder the financial risk of a fluctuating coal market. But 100 per cent FIFO work practices are being partly blamed by locals. I quote from one letter from a constituent whose job is to issue foreclosure notices in local mining towns:

Homes and vehicles are being repossessed by the banks. Businesses are closing and families are being torn apart. Suburbs are emptying as families have to uproot themselves and move elsewhere while looking for work.

Despite the state government's position, the Rockhampton Liberal National Party branch has called for the clause 100 per cent FIFO to be removed from the government agreements with mining companies where local people can be sourced from towns where the mine is based. In fairness, however, it must be acknowledged that mining companies do contribute to inland Queensland. BMA has advised it spends $1.3 billion annually in the greater Central Queensland region. Mining companies currently face a downturn in coal prices worldwide and as a result are adjusting their business practices to remain sustainable.

Earlier I referred to the 2013 parliamentary committee report which referred to FIFO as a cancer of the bush. Our Deputy Prime Minister is currently reviewing the 21-recommendation report. It should be noted that economic circumstances since the inquiry have changed. But this report did touch on several areas of taxation and called for a reassessment of tax exemptions that may apply to FIFO workers and mining companies that engage in FIFO or residential mining camps that are located near permanent towns. It also called for a review of zone tax offset arrangements to ensure that these are only claimable by permanent residents of our remote mining towns and not by 100 per cent FIFO workers. The potential impact of 100 per cent FIFO on our local towns is an issue that must be taken seriously by all levels of government.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

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

I second the motion.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And do you reserve your right to speak?

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

Yes.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dawson.

Alannah Mactiernan (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In a rare exercise of bipartisanship I certainly support the sentiments of this motion. The circumstances that have been set out by the member really are quite alarming. I am from a Western Australian background. I cannot be totally opposed, obviously, to fly-in fly-out. There is no doubt that there is a real place for fly-in fly-out and indeed drive-in drive-out. Many Western Australians support a lifestyle that they greatly value through the use of fly-in fly-out. Indeed, as I am travelling up between the north and Perth, and indeed from Perth over here, I often sit next to people that are coming off their rosters and speak very positively. I am likewise aware that there is a large degree of social dislocation that can occur and that for every positive story there are probably some negative stories as well. As a Western Australian, I would be quite appalled to see 100 per cent fly-in fly-out developments in the minerals and resources sector. In my view, it is simply not acceptable when those mines are located near towns—towns that could benefit from the infusion of activity.

This is a very complex issue, and it is very much the responsibility of both state and federal government to drive the companies in the right direction and insist that measures be taken that can help local business operate and gain benefit from fly-in fly-out. It obviously depends on the size of the town and how much you have to work with, but just a basic thing would be ensuring that if, for example, there is a construction camp—obviously you do not want to locate people permanently when the workforce requirements are only going to be for the construction phase—there is an obligation on that camp to access supplies through local business and to set up positive community relations. I am quite surprised that the mining companies are not taking this component far more seriously. If they want to use fly-in fly-out, they have a real obligation to be working with local communities to work out ways in which they can provide greater opportunities for local people to participate in the economic benefit that comes from having a camp within the area.

It is imperative that the state government drive a diversification agenda so that larger towns can provide the capacity for people to relocate there and have the sort of lifestyle and amenity that they would expect in the metropolitan area. When the mining towns in Western Australia were built in the sixties and seventies, they had pretty much an amenity that was not dissimilar to Perth's. From the eighties on, the general standard of amenity available in Perth increased quite dramatically and the mining towns did not keep pace—in fact, they became rather sad and tired-looking and they became far less attractive places for people to relocate to because of that increasing differential in lifestyle. It is important that there be very focused measures to keep the amenity of those towns lifted; that there be resources put in by the state government, and by the federal government and local government, in partnership with the mining companies to make those towns places people would want to bring their families to. We have intervened in a number of towns. For example, in Kalgoorlie a greened desert golf course was created with a tourism facility around which we built housing. Part of the rationale for that was that we needed to diversify. (Time expired)

George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was not the minister, you idiot. It was Simon Crean.

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

You were a minister. You were the minister for regional development for a while there—and there was no response from you. Most importantly, BMA is running roughshod over the communities that supported them. BMA do not need to retain this policy. They can drop it and do the right thing by the community by not having a 100 per cent fly in fly-out workforce. (Time expired)

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind the member that his remarks should go through the chair—not to individual members of the chamber.

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will endeavour to be more diplomatic than the member for Dawson was. He is always adversarial in his approach. In this case that is a pity, because this motion does not necessarily have to be a partisan motion. It does not have to be a catalogue of partisan attacks. This motion goes to a debate that Australia has been having for a long time—the myths of Sunday Too Far Away and Clancy of the Overflow, which are about people living and working in Australia's very harsh interior, versus the reality, which is one of people living predominantly in coastal cities. Fly-in fly-out workers straddle those two extremes.

I was at Adelaide Airport this morning, as was the member for Perth. There were as many people in fluoro work gear heading out to work in the mines as there were people in suits and ties heading off to Melbourne, Canberra or Sydney. So it is obviously something that is having a big impact on our economy and a big impact on the way people live and work.

Only last week I was up in Moomba on a tour of the Santos gas plants with the member for Makin—thanks to Sam Crafter from Santos for organising that. It is quite clear that those plants do rely heavily on a fly-in fly-out workforce and will always do so. It is important that we do not demonise fly-in fly-out or drive-in drive-out workers. It is important that we recognise that people will want that choice—in particular, their families will want the choice of living in coastal cities. It is just one of those realities that we have to acknowledge and deal with. I think some of the previous speakers are just, to an extent, railing against the tide going in and out.

That said, Cancer of the bush or salvation for our cities? is an important report. I think it makes some pretty persuasive arguments about the effect of fly-in fly-out workforces on housing and healthcare services in regional communities. It covers the impact on some of those communities of having large workforces there. They impact on the local housing market by driving rents up, they lead to large, isolated work camps—isolated from those regional communities—and they impact on access to healthcare services in those areas. Those are all important impacts. These regional communities are wearing all of the costs of those operations but are seemingly not getting as much of the benefit.

I think there are some interesting references to tax in the report. It would be sensible to look at the taxation laws and see what sort of effect they are having on encouraging fly-in fly-out workforces and whether that is in the national interest or in the region's interests. It is interesting to see the interaction between fringe benefits tax and zonal rebates, particularly in relation to things like living away from home allowances and the like.

That said, we do have to acknowledge that fly-in fly-out workers spend a lot of time away in very harsh and remote places. That obviously will have an impact on their families and their family lives. At the home end of that arrangement we see the impact in various country towns in my electorate of fly-in fly-out workers not being able to participate in the things that they would normally do, for example, with the footy team in their own home town. They are not able to partake in the civic life of those towns. In all of this we have to balance the needs of regional communities with the needs of the nation—the need to develop the North and to develop the interior. But we have to do that with one eye on reality. The vast majority of those workers will always want the choice to fly in and fly out. Some will opt to live and work in regional Australia but predominantly most of those workers will want to exercise the choice to live in our large coastal cities.

Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia for bringing this motion on fly-in fly-out workers before the House. The towns in my electorate of Flynn that are directly affected by fly-in fly-out and drive-in drive-out workers include Mount Perry, Cracow, Moura, Biloela, Gladstone, Emerald, Blackwater, Bluff, Theodore, Capella, Springsure, Rolleston and Teri, and Alpha on the Galilee Basin, just to the west of my electorate. Currently I believe this is a local and state government issue and each town deserve to be addressed on an individual basis. At the end of the day, there needs to be a compromise between mining companies, employees, local government and the state and federal governments to strike a balance that would seem to satisfy most stakeholders—although you will never satisfy everyone in this debate.

The make-up of each of these towns in Flynn is different in respect of the number of business houses in the town, the accommodation available—whether it be private, public or company owned; camps or motels and hotels—and the general liveability of the town. All these things have to be addressed—are there chemist shops and hairdressers and other businesses that look after the residents? Health services—rural doctors, allied health facilities et cetera—are big issues in these regional towns and they contribute to an area's liveability. Some towns have very good facilities but other towns will certainly be lacking some services. Education facilities are high on the agenda, and that can affect whether or not a person lives in a town. It is well known that older students are often forced to leave the family home, and it is a costly thing when you have to move from the country to the city. Airport facilities and airfares are another factor.

The township of Alpha in the Galilee Basin has said no to mine workers coming to town—they insist on 100 per cent fly-in fly-out. That is their preference, and it is their right to say so. The ratio of gas workers in Gladstone is about fifty-fifty locals to fly-in fly-out workers. The 11,500 workforce there will be reduced at the end of this year when construction finishes and production begins. There will be a drop-off to about 600 workers employed on the gas plants on Curtis Island. All these people will be housed in Gladstone on a permanent basis. Blackwater and Moura townships would like to see the demise of workers camps in close proximity to their towns, with workers taking up the available empty houses caused by the downturn in the residential sector.

Fly-in fly-out arrangements place a lot of pressure on families and increase stress when the main breadwinner is away from his or her family for long periods. Marriage break-up increases in these situations. How often do you hear the cry, 'I am not taking my children out of their school to go to some isolated mine out in the sticks'? But it is no surprise that some who take the big step and move to a mining town on a permanent basis fall in love with their new abode and never leave. There are many people in my town who say, 'We love the place, we want to stop here and we want to work here so we want our jobs to continue.' It does seem strange that some coalminers from Collinsville have to relocate to Cairns or the Gold Coast before they can be employed back in Collinsville. Maybe there are other reasons for this policy being introduced.

As I said at the start, every town needs to be judged on its own merits because every town in my electorate is different from all the other towns. There are 14 or 15 affected towns in my electorate and they all have different aspects that must be considered. For instance, Cracow, a goldmining town, has no businesses other than the pub, run by the famous boxer Fred Brophy. So that is a different sort of town again. (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to make a contribution to this very important debate on fly-in fly-out company workforce agreements. As the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government between 2007 and 2010, local communities, particularly those in Queensland and Western Australia but to a lesser extent those in other parts of Australia, raised this matter with me in a very consistent manner. There is no doubt that fly-in fly-out suits some people, being able to live where they have their base—be it in Perth or one of the other coastal cities—and gain a good living as a fly-in fly-out worker. It can assist companies, particularly when they are employing people for the short term. But there is also no doubt that it has a huge impact on communities and on individuals and families.

That is why the report tabled in February last year by Tony Windsor's committee was so important. It is a significant report from someone who adorned this chamber as the member for New England, and I think his absence is a significant loss. Tony Windsor was a great thinker and a great advocate for regional Australia, not least of which his New England community. The report highlighted the impact of fly-in fly-out work on local communities. Because of the lack of a stable and permanent workforce there is a lack of hard infrastructure in terms of transport and also a lack of social infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. Local towns face a reduction in employment opportunities due to a lack of banking, pharmaceutical and other service industries.

The report recommended further research into the social and economic impacts of fly-in fly-out work on communities. There is no doubt, anecdotally, that there is a real concern about the impact of people being away from their spouse and children for a long period of time. There is also no doubt that, if it were possible, many people would choose to move permanently to the communities where they work. I recall opening a childcare centre in Karratha and asking how it was going. Not only was it full on day one; people who had been wanting to access child care had been on the waiting list for months in advance. People wanted to be able to live with their families in that local community.

It is one of the reasons the government established the Regional Infrastructure Fund to work on developing regional community infrastructure, which was underpinned by the work of Infrastructure Australia. The Windsor committee brought down important recommendations that should in my view be supported by the government. For example, the committee's report recommended that the National Housing Supply Council be tasked to develop and implement a strategy to address the lack of affordable housing in fly-in fly-out communities. It also recommended further analysis into the impact on health and educational opportunities in those communities.

This issue affects families and local communities. Nine months on from the election of the government, it would be timely for it to produce a response to this report. The opposition will respond constructively to any proposals which seek to balance the need for appropriate economic activity with the need to look after families and local communities.

Debate adjourned.