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

Capella: Areas in red exist specifically to cater for the FIFO/DIDO workforce, Blue are areas that were simply vacant land as little as 6 years ago....

Photo 3 shows part of the camp that was built between the caravan park and the bowls club

Photo 4 is taken approximately 200m away on the main street, showing the donga camp that cropped up around the same time

Photo 4 is taken only one block south of photo 4

Capella and Middlemount, as before, areas outlined in red are camp accomodation for FIFO/DIDO workers

Photo 6 is taken 3 blocks from photo 4, facing the opposite direction showing the local cafe and pub

Ensham mine has 2 accomodation camps on site, both within reasonable distance of Emerald

I would show what Dysart and Emerald has, but Dysarts temporary accomodation is more spread out, with only the MAC camp being obvious due to its size, Emerald FIFO/DIDO accomodation is generally more spread out and less of a "camp" setup except for a couple of the older places....

Originally Posted by Sprint

in short, FIFO is bad news for everyone except the mining companies, thats as basic as it gets. The town I live in has a short grass airstrip that was originally intended as a recreational/emergency airstrip, but now it is getting used for small business commuter type aircraft, the strip is getting damaged and the regional council has no interest in upgrading or maintaining the strip citing that the air traffic should be going to the local airport 55km away....

4-5 years ago several vacant blocks of land were bought up to be turned into an "accomodation" facility", which, honestly is an eyesore, and the only noticeable benefit has been to the bowls club which houses the mess hall, and the local pub which has its own accomodation, converted from the towns only retail arcade, which used to house a doctor, dentist, hairdresser, etc

In the last 10 years the town has lost its only butcher, its doctor, its dentist, the hairdresser has moved 3 times, and the local general store has halved in floorspace, but the town has gained accomodation for a few hundred workers, mostly DIDO types.... more "permenant" accomodation has increased, but more than half the houses have been trucked in, and will get trucked out just like what happened in Blackwater during the last mining slump....

To give those of us out of the mining areas and workforce an idea of what its getting like, I'll post up a few photos from Google Maps

I live just out of a little inbred town in Victoria, Boolarra, 3870, it used to have a butcher, a little supermarket thingy, a service station, 2 pubs, newsagent, laundramatte, churchs, blah blah......

No FIFO or DIDO here

Welcome to progression, its how it goes, its not just your town

I guess the benefit iof FIFO is that when China finds red rocks and black rocks that are cheaper elsewhere in the world our small towns can get back to normal without having a bunch of useless houses clogging up the paddocks!

The fall in tin price a few years ago closing the cookers mine did both good and bad? IN the least real estate is now returning to normal and normal people can live here, well normal in as far as that normal level of crazy.

Australia is foolish to continue placing all our eggs (red and black rocks) in one basket. It will fail us in the long run.

Steve

I must say I have learnt lots from reading this thread and thanks everyone for sharing.

Personally, I don't think any amount of money (realistic money) could get me doing FIFO as I need to be home with my family as much as I can and my wife would definitely not cope with me being away that much. This is our position and I really respect those families that can do "FIFO and the family" and it all work out well, so good on you!

I suppose I do have one criticism that I have seen in the exposure I've had to those that do the FIFO and that is the massive waste of money on wine, women and song. I know what us blokes are like when were away from the family etc etc but I have seen a number of young blokes go to the mines for 3 yrs expecting to come back and buy a house in cash but instead they come back with nothing. That is sad and a massive waste. Are there financial literacy programs in the FIFO/mining locations these guys can do to learn how to deal with that kind of money?

Anyway... Good for you who can do it and keep it all together at home, cos that's the most important thing for me.

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Interesting.
I was in Surat in June on the way North.
The Pub( which my wife's grandafther used to own) runs a small but good caravan park which costs only 17.50.
I got to talking to a guy living in a tent, and it turns out he was a labourer working for Bunge during the wheat harvest. He was living in a tent because the pub had put up the weekly rate for a cabin from $85 to $450, because the CSG explorers wanted to book them all out continuously.

It's not the miners who suffer in these circumstances , but all others who need to work in the town. Newman et al are different as thereis nothing else there but in Queensland there are fruit pickers, labourers, wheat truck drivers etc etc.

As for no locals for the mining companies to employ, they don't seem willing to train anyone. One doesn't seem to be an intellectual giant to work in a mine anyway. My nephew is borderline mentally deficient, yet can earn 150K inspecting conveyers.
Regards Philip A
Me I am thinking of getting my heavy licence. Think they would employ a 62 year old ?

I am 64 yrs old and drive a B double,and I get offers every week to go and work for some one else......but I am happy were I am.......good truck drivers are hard to find ask any transport company

I am honestly a little bit amazed about the amount of negativety being associated with FIFO. It is not all bad. To be honest most of these people could not live full time in some of the remote locations, others it is just not even feasable to build a town. It is not just the mining companies, as these towns are now generally public towns, infrastructure and services are supposed to be provided by government at local, state and federal levels. They are just not interested in anything outside the Geraldton - Perth - Bunbury - Albany strip. The infrastructure in a lot of these remote locations just is not and never will be there for the volumes of workers required.
A lot of the people doing the complaining seem to have no concept of FIFO. It is no different to being a long haul truck driver.
Marriage breakdowns are often cited, but IMHO if that is the case then you dont have a strong marriage to start with. 1 in 2 fail these days regardless.
It is not for everyone, but is good for a lot of people.
Personally I think the major issues start when it is anything other than an even time roster. Once you start working say 4 weeks on 1 week off it does take its toll.
FIFO gives people the opportunity to reside where they want and be around friends and family. To be honest we have no family support up here and very few friends. Support for my wife would probablly be better in Perth or even Adelaide.
Look it has its pros and cons, same as anything.
How many people would be in the industry if they had to live in Newman or even worse Telfer or Nifty.