Billionaire coal baron takes on Labor over mining camp

Miners should not be forced to move to a town 40 minutes from the mine, just so Labor can get the right headline. It’s not safe, and it’s not fair, says billionaire Chris Wallin.

Byerwen Coal Mine in Central Queensland

Queensland Labor is shaping up for another unnecessary fight – this time with the quiet man of the Queensland mining industry – and they may live to regret it.

When QCoal founder and billionaire Chris Wallin set up a workers’ camp next to his Byerwen coal mine in the Bowen Basin complete with free meals, rooms, a gym and even a wet bar, he thought he was doing the right thing.

Cue the State Government, which passed special legislation that will force him to close the camp and progressively move its workforce into the town of Glenden almost 40km away.

The law followed a campaign by the former mayor and some locals to “save Glenden.

The fact that the same State Government approved a 1000 person camp the same distance from Glenden for Swiss mining giant Glencore, giving it a leave pass to exit the town they built back in the 1980s while forcing Wallin’s workers to live there, has particularly made Wallin see red.

Glenden, about two hours’ drive west of Mackay has about 500 people, and was built to house workers at the Glencore-owned Newlands coalmine, but the Swiss mining giant is closing Newlands.

Wallin, who is one of the biggest supporters of the Royal Flying Doctors’ Service, believes his company was targeted because the government thought it wouldn’t make a fuss in an election year. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Chris Wallin is taking on the State Government.

Wallin has hired former RACQ and BOQ flack catcher Paul Turner, and an ad agency, to run a campaign focused on Labor’s marginal electorates in Cairns, the Sunshine Coast and Mackay.

“Enough is enough,” the low-profile Wallin told City Beat.

“Our 800 Byerwen mine workers live in regional Queensland already, they work seven-day shifts at 12.5 hours a day and they like living in a camp. It is five minutes from the mine site, has free meals, rooms, a gym and even a wet bar. That’s what they deserve after working so hard.”

He admits no one feels any sympathy for a mining company, particularly a coal mining company these days, but the real victims are the workers.

“The workers drive in and drive out every seven days to do a job. They should not be forced to move to a town 40 minutes from the mine, adding up to two hours a day to their workday, just so Labor can get the right headline. It’s not safe, and it’s not fair,” Wallin says.

The ill-fated legislation was brought in after a “save Glenden” campaign by former Isaac Mayor Anne Baker and was pushed through by Resource Minister Scott Stewart. But Wallin says the worst thing is this won’t save Glenden and may destroy the mine.

“It will take much more than moving our camp, and even trying to move our workforce, to live in the town. The fact is those workers will not move, they will leave QCoal and Byerwen rather than be forced to live in Glenden,” Wallin says.

“It threatens the future of the mine, the $2 billion investment and 800 jobs. Glenden has no supermarket, no pharmacy, no newsagent, a newly appointed police officer who finishes work at 4pm.” However, Minister Stewart says he makes “no apologies for backing regional Queensland.” Watch this space.

Aerial shots of Glenden, Queensland. Photo: Isaac Regional Council.