Fifo legislation goes before Parliament

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland Parliament is faced with new laws banning 100% fly-in, fly-out (Fifo) on new large resource projects.

Minister for State Development and for Natural Resources and Mines Dr Anthony Lynham said on Tuesday that the new legislation would prevent a full Fifo workforce in new large resource projects where nearby regional communities had a capable workforce.

The new legislation would also require large resource projects to consider locals for employment and ensure competitive local businesses have the opportunity to win contracts and be part of the project’s supply chain.

“It is only right that local workers get an opportunity to be considered for these jobs and are not discriminated against because they are local residents,” Lynham told Parliament.

“They should be allowed to live in the local community if they so choose. The requirements will apply to all large resource projects 100 km or less from a regional centre.”

The independent Coordinator-General will be able to set, monitor and enforce the conditions on new large resource projects through their environmental-impact statements, which will need to comprehensively assess social impacts.

The proposed laws will make it an offence to advertise positions in a way that prohibits residents from nearby regional communities from applying.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has previously warned that the legislation could pose a serious threat to investor confidence, if it is enforced retrospectively, saying that the changes will not assist Queensland resources projects to thrive in an increasingly competitive global market.

QRC CEO Michael Roche said on Tuesday that there was no justification for the "sledghammer approach" taken by the government, as of the nearly 50 operating coal mines in Queensland, just two were Fifo mines, and those had been approved by the previous government.

“It is simply ludicrous to ban 100% Fifo operations if a proposed new mine is within 100 km of a community as tiny as 200 people,” Roche said.

He said that equally of concern is the implication in the Bill that a daily round trip commute of 200 km, after a 12 hour shift, can be done safely.

"The Bill takes industry into uncharted territory with its anti-discrimination provisions that will apply to mines that have been operating for a number of years with approved workforce arrangements," Roche said.

“We remain opposed to the retrospective nature of these provisions in the Bill and are concerned about the potential vexatious misuse,” he said.