Thread: fly in, fly out- negative report, true, or not?

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Crikey!,50 Km from Newman won't get you far! I would have thought about 250 Km to Tom Price or 450 Km to Port Headland would be your closest towns.
Was in Newman recently and wanted to buy some oil. No Repco, SuperCheap, Bursons etc, I was quite suprised. I just assumed people 'obtained' their oil from their employers. In the end went to the BP and after choking on the cost of 1 litre containers at $14 bought 4 litres of Castrol RX Super, which was exactly the oil I wanted, for $32. A bargain.
As for FIFO, was in Norseman probably 10? years ago when the mining company (don't know which one) had just spent a fortune building new houses. Place was booming, kids on bikes, mums and dads, the whole nine yards as the yanks would say. Went back a couple of years later and the whole lot had been sold off and the workforce replaced with FIFO, the town had been absolutely gutted. It was a shame.

Deano

Deano,
I was having a shot at the none remote workforce that reckon we should just have to suck it up as we earn big dollars. Well most of us dont earn big dollars and if we want to do any shopping South Hedland is the closest at aroune 500kms.
Norseman, dont know when the last of the houses was built but would have been plus 10 years ago. Most were 1950, 60s and falling down pieces of crap.
I know when I was there in 2010 there were old swing sets across from my room .

I do my medical next week for a fifo job in remote SA, cant get work here at all so if that is all thats on offer then thats what I will do

Originally Posted by blitz

I do my medical next week for a fifo job in remote SA, cant get work here at all so if that is all thats on offer then thats what I will do

Good for you, you have to earn a living, Bob

Originally Posted by blitz

I do my medical next week for a fifo job in remote SA, cant get work here at all so if that is all thats on offer then thats what I will do

I hope you get it,personally FIFO is not for me but the misses 6 years of Uni means I don't have to.Newman is different as it's only been here since the 60's and has only been a mining town. Pat

Originally Posted by bob10

Is anyone in Canberra thinking beyond the election cycle? I really worry about my country , it would be nice to think we had responsible polititions running it. Bob

Only those of us trying to survive the guvment.
Polititions think beyond the next election??? Good one

Originally Posted by klappers

Yes there may be local people there that want the job... But are the skilled, have they had training? What is their mining experience? In my experience you need a balance.. And there is no reason why that couldnt work.. Once again the miner pays eh.

About the only way you can get a start on a mine site as a local is if you're qualified up the wazoo, I chased traineeships, cleanskin jobs, hell, even went as far as getting a few machinery tickets, but got told regularly that if i wanted to get a start without being "skilled" my best option without having someone high up to grease the wheels, was to move to rockhampton, mackay or the southeast corner....

Originally Posted by CraigE

Deano,
I was having a shot at the none remote workforce that reckon we should just have to suck it up as we earn big dollars. Well most of us dont earn big dollars and if we want to do any shopping South Hedland is the closest at aroune 500kms.
................................

No arguments here. It's a bit hard to explain the dynamics of it all to people who havn't been there and assume Newman (for example) is just like any other town but just a little 'remote'.
Hadn't been to Newman for ten years or so and it sure has grown in that time. It's home to the worlds largest open cut mine and everything around it is scaled to this size. There's plenty of work and people come from all round Australia to make a quid. 12 hour shifts on whatever FIFO schedule you're on, or not, weather from now till say May will be bloody hot, dusty and miserable, you can have it for mine and welcome. Away from home/marriage/children issues aside services are dimensioned for a population a fraction of the size.
Broke a tooth in half the day before arriving in town and tried to chase up a dentist. Newman had one temporary dentist in private practice or has an answering machine claiming this, I'm not sure as I couldn't raise a response. There is a government dentist, your taxes at work, for those on welfare (indiginous) but doesn't attend to anyone else. That's the way it is.
So my view is, if you want to live/work in a town like Newman and earn your $100K+ a year you deserve evey penny.

Deano

Originally Posted by Sprint

About the only way you can get a start on a mine site as a local is if you're qualified up the wazoo, I chased traineeships, cleanskin jobs, hell, even went as far as getting a few machinery tickets, but got told regularly that if i wanted to get a start without being "skilled" my best option without having someone high up to grease the wheels, was to move to rockhampton, mackay or the southeast corner....

I have heard this from friends of mine, yet we're told the mining industry is short of skilled people. Who runs this country, mining industry or government, as if I need to ask. When a government is broke, they do desperate things. Bob