The report, tabled by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia following a parliamentary inquiry, said that some mining companies appeared to be oblivious to the damage FIFO caused.
The report was titled Cancer of the Bush or Salvation for Our Cities? Fly-in, fly-out and drive-in, drive-out workforce practices in Regional Australia.
The inquiry heard extensive arguments from both sides of the debate.
It considered the benefits high wages and time at home brought to FIFO/DIDO workers and their families.
It also looked at the damage the practice was doing to the prosperity of those in regional communities.
Included in the report were Kalgoorlie-Boulder mayor Ron Yuryevich’s comment that FIFO was the “cancer of the bush”
He also said that the practice was eroding the way of life in traditional mining communities like Kalgoorlie, Karratha, Mt Isa, Broken Hill and Moranbah.
Subsidisation of FIFO/DIDO work practices through taxation concessions to mining corporations also distorted the capacity of workers to make the choice to live and work in regional communities, the report stated.
And a lack of empirical evidence meant that state and federal governments had no capacity to respond to the FIFO phenomenon in a way that would support regional communities.
Health services, skills shortages, economic impact and social cohesion were among the issues tackled in the 237-page report.
Committee chairman MP Tony Windsor said: “The committee commenced this inquiry not knowing what it would find. What the inquiry found was a dearth of empirical evidence.
“This means that the state and federal governments have no capacity to respond to this phenomenon in a way that will support regional communities.
“Corporate employment choices have become the regional Australia policy of many governments and this is simply unacceptable.
“There are simple and practical measures that can be put in place to provide more incentive for FIFO/DIDO workers to become residential workers.
“Foremost, governments at all levels must acknowledge that, for some communities – particularly those traditional resource communities FIFO/DIDO is a cancer.
“Regional communities need a champion. This report calls for that champion.
“It recognises that there are some circumstances where FIFO/DIDO is warranted – for construction and very remote operations.
“But for operational positions located near existing regional communities every effort should be made to make FIFO/DIDO the exception rather than the rule.”
A total of 21 recommendations were made.
These included strategies and targets for achieving fair access to health services for people living in regional and remote areas.
The committee recommended the commonwealth government review the Zone Tax Offset arrangements to ensure they were only claimable by permanent residents.
And it urged a review of the Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986, calling for the removal of the exempt status for FIFO and DIDO camps in regional towns.
The review should also remove the exempt status of travel to and from the workplace for operational phases of regional mining projects, the report said.
