4 ms·

It's a sad story on the ground: * We absolutely squandered the previous boom, once the tap was turned off it almost felt like it hadn't happened at all, outsid

by mwill 8y ago

It's a sad story on the ground: * We absolutely squandered the previous boom, once the tap was turned off it almost felt like it hadn't happened at all, outside of new developments in the CBD. * Created an absolutely venomous environment for the workforce. I know dozens of FIFO workers or industrial workers servicing the industry, and I can only think of a few that don't suffer from either substance abuse problems, crippling debt despite massive salaries, depression or other mental health issues, or chronic physical injuries they can't get comp for, not to mention the great strain it puts on their family, and toxic workplaces (Not everywhere, but its not uncommon) * We've let country towns supporting the industry wither on the vine. If you take Kalgoorlie for an example; Quite a lot of money is being spent in town, and if you take a drive over to the industrial estate most people will tell you that business is booming. The same people have been saying the town is just about ready to pick back up for a couple of years now, but it hasn't, and I don't believe it will. The industrial activity just isn't bleeding over into the town like it used to. The money washes straight back to Perth, back east, and overseas. Half the storefronts in the main drag are closed, and prime showrooms sit empty. The industry has raised the cost of travel to Kal so high that tourism is basically non-existent, and people who used to maintain two households in Perth and Kal are now having to chose one or the other, invariably leaving Kal for Perth I honestly don't have the expertise to offer a solution to any of these, my gut says collecting fair royalties and using the money to fund services would be a start, but I don't have the background to really make that argument. But what I do know is, for the average punter on the street, it hasn't amounted to much, and one day it'll be gone. I look around sometimes and imagine where we'd be if the prices dropped and the sector closed up shop, and it's a pretty grim picture.

j45 8y ago
Some of these issues sound similar to energy workers in Canada.
- eigenvector 8y ago
  Yes, eerily similar to the situation in Fort McMurray and other oil towns in Western Canada.
  - j45 8y ago
    I was literally thinking about the fires a few years ago which exposed how unprepared for any future most people are. Financial literacy is such a need.
jussij 8y ago
> I honestly don't have the expertise to offer a solution to any of these My father worked a life time in the mining industry for several Australian mining companies, and as a result I spent a lot of time growing up in mining towns. By their nature those mining towns can and do feel isolated, but the lived experience of growing up in mining town can be enjoyable. Move on to the modern day miner and they are predominantly FIFO and that then which creates the problems you have outline. So my solution would be: 1. The mining company can not use FIFO workers to mine a resource. 2. Instead they have to existing town infrastructure complete with schools, medical centres etc. 3. If no such infrastructure can be found then it will need to be built. 4. If under these rules the resource can't be mined with a profit then it should be left in the ground until it can. The resources being mined don't belong to the mining companies, but instead belong to the community and to the country. By using FIFO workers these companies are just taking that resource without giving back anything to the community and if that is all they have to offer then the resource is better of not being mined.
- lsh 8y ago
  "Fly-In, Fly-Out" rather than a FIFO collection
jen729w 8y ago
On the plus side — and I realise I’m playing the devil’s advocate here — I think* some of this boom helped Australia avoid the general downturn that a lot of the rest of the world has seen over the past decade. People here — normal working dudes — have money. What do they do with it? They spend it. On cars, mostly, but on houses, and TVs, and out in the pub, and whatever else. If that discretionary income hadn’t been floating round our economy for the last decade, I don’t think we’d be in the doing-quite-nicely-thank-you situation we are now. Totally accept that this is to the detriment of specific places like WA, or Kalgoorlie more specifically. I’m not saying it’s good, just that it’s a thing. (*I’m not an economist, I don’t work in this industry, and I live in Melbourne, so this is pure armchair economics.)
- mwill 8y ago
  You are absolutely right I feel, I think the boom played a role in keeping us out of trouble. But I feel like when you compare us to other natural resource rich countries, we've let them walk away with the goods for free. And make no mistake, these jobs are temporary (If you take a long view). The industry is happy to just shut down projects the moment the price doesn't make any sense. We've been lucky that there's been enough they want out of our dirt that's there's always something on the go, but sooner or later it'll dry up, and those jobs will vanish, even if only for a while. And we'll be left with very little. And this doesn't even go into the specter of automation floating over our head.

by mwill 8y ago

j45 8y ago

Some of these issues sound similar to energy workers in Canada.

eigenvector 8y ago
Yes, eerily similar to the situation in Fort McMurray and other oil towns in Western Canada.
- j45 8y ago
  I was literally thinking about the fires a few years ago which exposed how unprepared for any future most people are. Financial literacy is such a need.

jussij 8y ago

> I honestly don't have the expertise to offer a solution to any of these My father worked a life time in the mining industry for several Australian mining companies, and as a result I spent a lot of time growing up in mining towns. By their nature those mining towns can and do feel isolated, but the lived experience of growing up in mining town can be enjoyable. Move on to the modern day miner and they are predominantly FIFO and that then which creates the problems you have outline. So my solution would be: 1. The mining company can not use FIFO workers to mine a resource. 2. Instead they have to existing town infrastructure complete with schools, medical centres etc. 3. If no such infrastructure can be found then it will need to be built. 4. If under these rules the resource can't be mined with a profit then it should be left in the ground until it can. The resources being mined don't belong to the mining companies, but instead belong to the community and to the country. By using FIFO workers these companies are just taking that resource without giving back anything to the community and if that is all they have to offer then the resource is better of not being mined.

lsh 8y ago
"Fly-In, Fly-Out" rather than a FIFO collection

jen729w 8y ago

On the plus side — and I realise I’m playing the devil’s advocate here — I think* some of this boom helped Australia avoid the general downturn that a lot of the rest of the world has seen over the past decade. People here — normal working dudes — have money. What do they do with it? They spend it. On cars, mostly, but on houses, and TVs, and out in the pub, and whatever else. If that discretionary income hadn’t been floating round our economy for the last decade, I don’t think we’d be in the doing-quite-nicely-thank-you situation we are now. Totally accept that this is to the detriment of specific places like WA, or Kalgoorlie more specifically. I’m not saying it’s good, just that it’s a thing. (*I’m not an economist, I don’t work in this industry, and I live in Melbourne, so this is pure armchair economics.)

mwill 8y ago
You are absolutely right I feel, I think the boom played a role in keeping us out of trouble. But I feel like when you compare us to other natural resource rich countries, we've let them walk away with the goods for free. And make no mistake, these jobs are temporary (If you take a long view). The industry is happy to just shut down projects the moment the price doesn't make any sense. We've been lucky that there's been enough they want out of our dirt that's there's always something on the go, but sooner or later it'll dry up, and those jobs will vanish, even if only for a while. And we'll be left with very little. And this doesn't even go into the specter of automation floating over our head.