South Brisbane Labor MP Jackie Trad, who took Anna Bligh’s seat in 2012 when the former premier retired, told Brisbane Radio 4BC yesterday that a Palaszczuk ALP government would not review existing “100% FIFO” mining approvals.
On October 22 last year, Annastacia Palaszczuk and front bencher Jo-Ann Miller toured Central Queensland promising to ban 100% FIFO for the region if it won the state election, saying all current 100% FIFO workplaces would be reviewed and no more would be approved.
The two key mines this policy related to were BHP’s Caval Ridge and Daunia mines, which the company was allowed to be 100% FIFO in a joint venture with BMA in a deal struck under the Bligh government.
The two mines were unique in the Bowen Basin as their operational workforce was drawn from areas identified by the Bligh government as having higher than state average unemployment – Cairns and southeast Queensland.
When the two projects were proposed there was full employment throughout the Bowen Basin and indeed Central Queensland, so to get mine staff they either need to poach from other operations at exorbitant prices.
Even local community people were joining the mining industry for higher paid jobs at the height of the boom.
There was also a high percentage of women and “clean skins” ¬who were trained up from scratch. They now number over 900 across the Bowen Basin, who Queensland Resources Council CEO Michael Roache said would be “very relieved” about Trad’s comments yesterday.
When questioned on Radio 4BC about whether Palaszczuk’s previous statement that the ALP would stop FIFO mining applied to all mines or simply to new mines, Trad said: “Just for clarification it’s 100% fly-in fly-out, so it’ll be about new proposals for mines, so it won’t be retrospective.”
“You can’t go in and retrospectively change a workforce that would create a lot of chaos, but it would be for new mines and the policy is to absolutely stop the 100% fly-in fly-out because there’s a lot of regional communities where locals are missing out on jobs because of that policy,” Trad said.
“It will be up to the proponents to work with the proponents to make sure there are local employment opportunities in towns but also that they could source their workforce as well from coastal cities.”
When asked whether the ALP had settled on a breakdown yet, she replied: “No we haven’t. We’ll continue to work that policy through if we’re lucky enough to form government in our own right then we will make sure that we, unlike the LNP, sit down and talk to proponents and regional communities.”
Roche said Labor’s October 2014 pledge to retrospectively review existing employment arrangements at two Bowen Basin mines had sent a shudder through the resources sector.
“Changing the rules under which companies have committed billions of investment dollars would be a very bad move by any government serious about attracting new investment and jobs,” Roche said.
“The ALP’s clarification of its policy has lifted a weight off the shoulders of hundreds of employees from Cairns and south-east Queensland who successfully competed with many thousands of other applicants for jobs at the two mines under a FIFO model approved by the former Bligh Government.
“Ms Trad has sent a strong signal to the resources sector and to the wider business community that the ALP does understand the importance of engendering investment certainty and confidence.”
