The recent sacking of 700 employees in his electorate has prompted the Member for Dalrymple to call for strong action and he is demanding that the Government starts supporting the families and businesses who work and live in and around these mining communities.
The Member for Dalrymple, Shane Knuth will be taking the issue of mine job losses to the next sitting of parliament. He hopes that the State Government and mining companies will listen to a proposal to address the current situation in the Bowen Basin mining communities and the ongoing catastrophic issues associated with a 100% FIFO workforce.
Mr Knuth said that the life span of mining towns in Central Queensland is in jeopardy if the state government and mining companies continue along the same path.
Recent reports reveal that a FIFO lifestyle contributes to family disruption and often leads to family separations. It is evident that there is a massive turnover of FIFO workers in these mining camps, which fails to provide opportunities for families to live in the townships where the mines are situated.
The massive turnover in the FIFO workforce provides evidence that this type of lifestyle is not sustainable, and is not good for Queensland families and communities.
The townships of Moranbah and Dysart currently have more than three hundred vacant homes which can be directly contributed to the FIFO policy.
Mr Knuth proposes that mining companies introduce a gradual reduction to their FIFO workforce over a three to five year period. This proposal seeks to see the current 100% FIFO workforce initially reduced to 70%, and that mining companies gradually replace vacant FIFO jobs with community based employees.
This way, there will be no jobs lost, no sackings and a win-win for everybody.
Mr Knuth said that he will be raising this in Parliament at the next sitting and lobbying to get government support for this proposal.