I'm now FIFO scum

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Originally Posted by MBZ460

Wouldn't it have something to do with:

* everyone is getting paid more, relative to the flight costs
* Cost of flights cheap relative to 20 years ago with more competitive operators
* Cost to build new housing at the sites now very high (building trades also expecting to be flown in or accommodated, unlike 30+ years ago)
* Govt not forcing companies to build communities unlike years ago
* People are more fussy about living conditions now, want the same level as the cities = expensive
* Jobs are more specialised, due to automation, and there is a smaller pool of these employees, many of whom dont want to live on site (used to the city lifestyle)
* Some mines are now viable with short resource lifetimes, so not worth building a community for them

None of which really makes FIFO a great idea.

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To give you an idea,in Newman 30 house blocks were released for offer,they had over 400 hits,Tom Price,2 1/2 hours up the road haven't had a land release in 27 years,thats why there is FIFO.People would live in outback Oz but without land release's it isn't going to happen. Pat

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Originally Posted by Andrew D

Heaps of people do FIFO. It's not that bad and can be good for the locally economy as well.

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Only parts of the local economy its ever good for is the pubs and the hookers, accomodation is pretty much always owned by non local investors who either build cheap and nasty motels or buy up local houses and turn them into boarding houses.... an 8 bedroom place is just being finished over my back fence, and when i spoke with the owner about the noise from reversing beepers at 5am when they go to work, I was assured it wouldnt be an issue..... My reply was "it had better not be, because its a lot of people i can wake up with one rock on thier roof at midnight....."

funny how he got refused approval on the building when he put it forward as a 8 room executive boarding house, but got approved when he said it was a normal family home 6 months later..... 8 bedrooms, 8 ensuite bathrooms, 8 walk in wardrobes, large communal living area and a kitchenette and car parking space for 8 cars.... one hell of a family....

at the end of the day, my experience with FIFO locally is the workers come here, earn thier money then fly back to suburbia with it.....

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Originally Posted by rovercare

I got asked to come to the Pilbara, babysitting a flashbutt welder, but I'm not interested in the roster......and the humidity!

I've been asked about the possibility of being flown up, just for breakdowns, to which is till being discussed

Last knock back was PNG, month on, month off, 350k p/a, I just don't think I could handle the jungle, not scared of anything but humidity:(it knocks me about alot, Kakadu nearly killed me at the end of the wet:D

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Must be on the coast, no humidity where we are, just very dry and hot most of the time.

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Originally Posted by Sprint

Only parts of the local economy its ever good for is the pubs and the hookers, accomodation is pretty much always owned by non local investors who either build cheap and nasty motels or buy up local houses and turn them into boarding houses.... an 8 bedroom place is just being finished over my back fence, and when i spoke with the owner about the noise from reversing beepers at 5am when they go to work, I was assured it wouldnt be an issue..... My reply was "it had better not be, because its a lot of people i can wake up with one rock on thier roof at midnight....."

funny how he got refused approval on the building when he put it forward as a 8 room executive boarding house, but got approved when he said it was a normal family home 6 months later..... 8 bedrooms, 8 ensuite bathrooms, 8 walk in wardrobes, large communal living area and a kitchenette and car parking space for 8 cars.... one hell of a family....

at the end of the day, my experience with FIFO locally is the workers come here, earn their money then fly back to suburbia with it.....

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Check with your council, there are by laws with people circumventing the boarding house rules. Some councils will not allow multiple, single persons to reside in this type of situation. The whole point of this is to stop this type of thing occurring inn residential areas.

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Originally Posted by PAT303

To give you an idea,in Newman 30 house blocks were released for offer,they had over 400 hits,Tom Price,2 1/2 hours up the road haven't had a land release in 27 years,thats why there is FIFO.People would live in outback Oz but without land release's it isn't going to happen. Pat

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Honestly, I would much prefer to live in outback communities or small towns. Most times there is no choice. As per previous post multiple single men living in what is supposed to be family housing and this is a downside of living in a mining town with teenagers. Housing assured us this would not happen. Appears wife and child were there when they moved in and a short time later they were gone and 5 single guys living there. Housing told us this could not happen. When I accepted a job promotion, I had to go FIFO, no choice unless I did not want the job as MtWhaleback have all the houses in Newman, Did not matter that MAC is the same company and only 120kms up the road. The biggest issue is the housing can be fairly sub standard. It was cheap but very basic. A good example was our place, needed renovations but was OK. 3 bed which starts to get a bit cramped with 2 teenagers. Not allowed to have a 4 bed, so nowhere for visitors to stay and with the heat need to be inside. 1 small living area (with teenagers need 2). Single Carport only. What they do need to do is 4 car garage and enclosed outdoor patio area and it would be great.
Very reluctantly living on edge of suburbia.
The problem with Newman is all the single accommodation is in town and this causes an anti family environment. In my opinion all single accommodation such as camps should be in a designated area out of town. Pretty much ends up family's not being able to go out to a pub, the Red Sands is a good example of this.
Nearly all the mining towns have gone to the dogs in the last few years due to the influx of mainly single men on FIFO, alcohol problems, drug problems, anti social behavior as they do not live there and are away from their wives, girlfriends and families.

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Originally Posted by PAT303

It's official,I've now joined that most unliked group,the Australian FIFO worker.We've moved from the Pilbara to Kalgoorlie and next week I'm starting FIFO back to the Pilbara with Downers with a 2 and 1 roster,I'm going to spend some dollars on the Tdi as I'll be driving to Perth,parking her up for my swing and driving back so she'll earn her keep again,a much needed tune and I'll fix the damn transfer leak she's had for the last ten years.Anyway we'll settle in Kal for a while and I've layed down the law to Tracey,don't care about the house as long as there's a big shed,time to start a new part of our lives,again. Pat

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Welcome to FIFO. What site are you going to?
Craig

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Originally Posted by BMKal

You won't be the only one doing FIFO from Kal Pat. I'm often up at the site just north of where you're going - we now fly into the new airport at Xmas Creek (a lot better than Cloudbreak).

At the moment, I'm at Frankfurt airport waiting to catch a flight back to Perth. Have been over here for a week on a training course. All the white stuff on the ground here at the moment is a pleasant change from the red stuff I'm used to looking at.

Will see you round town sometime no doubt. If you see the grey D2 in your travels - it's not me. My young bloke now has it as his daily driver.

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We have a couple of guys coming in from Kal. 1 my age and we used to run with the same crowds back in the mid 80s in Kal.

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Originally Posted by Sprint

Only parts of the local economy its ever good for is the pubs and the hookers

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Pretty sure hookers are also FIFO.

Regards
Andrew

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Originally Posted by BMKal

You won't be the only one doing FIFO from Kal Pat. I'm often up at the site just north of where you're going - we now fly into the new airport at Xmas Creek (a lot better than Cloudbreak).

At the moment, I'm at Frankfurt airport waiting to catch a flight back to Perth. Have been over here for a week on a training course. All the white stuff on the ground here at the moment is a pleasant change from the red stuff I'm used to looking at.

Will see you round town sometime no doubt. If you see the grey D2 in your travels - it's not me. My young bloke now has it as his daily driver.

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Brian, Myles is in Kal right now without a job, the company he was working for, which employed FIFO and supplied accomodation, lost their contract to a mob that does not employ FIFO. You can see why the first mob didn't win the new contract, competing with a company that pays no accomodation or air fares, no contest.
If Myles or anyone else on FIFO wants to work for this new mob, then they will have to try and find accomodation, which means they are paying rent/mortgage back on the East coast (or wherever) and then having to do the same over there. This new mob has just put 20 FIFO blokes out of a job.
I didn't think there would be enough local workers to fill all the jobs created by getting rid of FIFO, especially when you consider the cost of renting/buying around some of these mines.
Myles has applied for a job with this new mob, but the bloke who's place he's staying at was knocked back because of lack of experience, they only moved into this place (friend and his missus) last week and are tied into a lease.
Seems the mining industry is in for a shakeup.
BTW did you get my reply last week to your PM, Regards Frank.

Tank what does your son do?. Pat