Future Qld Resources: Industry wants a fairer share

Industry mining leaders have called for more services to help lure workers and their families out of the capital cities and create thriving regional communities.

Mining towns need more adequate essential health and education services to help lure workers and their families out of the capital cities and create thriving regional communities.

That was the plea from resource industry leaders who were joined by Premier Steven Miles at The Courier-Mail’s Future Resources event on Friday, which highlighted the challenges and opportunities facing the resources sector.

The industry also acknowledged the work it had to do to restore pride in the sector among its workforce and improve public perceptions around the role of mining in a green energy future.

Bravus’s head of communication Kate Campbell said the industry spent an enormous amount of money developing mine and infrastructure projects in the state’s regions, which was not hindering the attraction of workers.

Ms Campbell said Bravus’ strategy had been to attract workers already living in regions near the Bowen Basin like Rockhampton, while also making it attractive for employees from other areas to move to those towns.

But she said if elected representatives wanted thriving regional towns, relocating workers needed tax incentives and more investment into services like health and education to support their families.

This story is part of The Courier-Mail’s special Future Queensland: Resources series that reveals the truth about the contribution the much-maligned resources industry makes to Queensland. You can read all of our coverage here

She said if that didn’t happen, “people will be flying in and out of the capital cities”.

“What we see is there is no problem attracting people to live (in the regions) but then it comes back to the question of us as Australian society, do we put the resources in to make these towns attractive places to live,” she said. “If the basic services aren’t there, people won’t come. There’s a point where you can’t ask for the company’s to do any more.

“We bring enormous amount of money into those communities, but it’s beyond what we can do.”

Steven Miles Premier of Queensland, interviewed by Chris Jones, Editor, The Courier-Mail, during the Future Resources 2024 lunch at the Brisbane Convention Centre. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Senex COO Darren Stevenson said the families of workers were often the decision makers about whether people moved permanently to regional areas for jobs.

“Obviously the services are important and the royalties that our industry pays is important to … building hospitals, building roads, providing nurses,” he said.

“People do want to be part of the thriving communities, and we will need to work out how to make that happen … so that people are attracted, their kids want to live there, their partners want to live there.”

Mr Miles said he would be willing to work more closely with the sector on its challenges but was unapologetic on the state’s royalty regime.

“The industry built our state and that will continue to make a massive contribution,” he said. “Those jobs are really important. I think there is always ways to do better and governments by their nature can always to do better.”

Samir Vora, Executive Director, Bravus , interviewed by Chris Jones, Editor, The Courier-Mail, during the Future Resources 2024 lunch at the Brisbane Convention Centre. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

Rockhampton miner and TikTok star Sienna Mallon said the next generation was interested in getting into the well-paid industry, revealing she is contacted constantly by people seeking to get started.

“I use my social media to demonstrate to younger people that you can be whoever you want to be,” she said.

Ms Mallon, 27, also said mining companies were doing a “very good” job at recruiting women but it was hard to retain them amid a seismic shift in a male-dominated industry.

Meanwhile, the industry acknowledged it needed to do more to promote its role in the everyday uses of mining and the green energy transition.

QRC chief executive Janette Hewson said 60 per cent of Queensland’s energy came from coal and 5 per cent from gas. She said industry supported renewables but it won’t be possible to reach net zero “without the resources industry”.

“We might be blessed here in Australia to have all this natural abundance for solar and wind and the coal and gas,” she said. “It’s not about competing … You need everything in the mix.”