The industry should not rely on its recent past to provide a guide for employment patterns as it is now struggles with its most severe downturn in 20 years, he said.

“I’d be the first to acknowledge that many Central Queensland communities are hurting right now, but not because of 950 FIFO workers at two of the state’s 56 operating coal mines; but rather because of the loss of over 9000 coal industry jobs over the past three years in the face of some of the toughest market conditions in around 20 years,” he said.

“The committee needs to understand that there is no such thing as a 100% FIFO mine in the Bowen Basin. As records confirm, there are around 1000 local worker and contractor visits per month to these two mines to support operations.

“And finally, the committee must avoid falling into the trap of looking in the rear vision mirror. According to Queensland Treasury’s latest Bowen Basin Population Report, the number of non-resident workers has fallen 35% from its 2012 peak.”

In March 2012, URS Australia reported back to the QRC on the results of their in-depth survey of about 2300 resources sector workers in the Bowen and Surat Basins and North West Queensland.

The resonant message from that independent research was that workers want to be able to choose whether to live in resource communities, or be long-distance commuters, Roche said.

URS concluded: “The clear implication is that being able to offer choice between residential and non-residential accommodation arrangements across the resources sector as a whole and across all regions to current and potential employees is essential if the resources sector is to staff current and future projects.”