The hunt for Adani’s 10,000 jobs brings up ‘zero results’

IT’S the monster project that will bring thousands of jobs to a struggling region — but finding these jobs is not that easy.

THERE’S a bit of an in-joke among Townsville residents about Adani’s mega coal mining project that if you ask them to explain, is an instant conversation killer.

The first time I hear it is from a local scientist touching on some potential environmental concerns linked to the construction of railway line.

“Not having a go at it (the mine) but just making a point,” he says. “Coming from Townsville I’d be shot if I had a go at it.”

There’s laughter among those listening but when I ask him later to clarify, the conversation takes on a serious tone and he’s reluctant to expand further.

He tells me opinion within Townsville is split and when I ask him if he feels he can’t be open he says: “I just feel like without having all the information I wouldn’t want to judge either way”.

Later he says: “I think people generally are supportive (of the mine) to be honest because they’re really focused on jobs”.

It’s this promise of jobs that has echoed throughout the region and discouraged many from speaking out against the mine, even though I spoke to many worried about impacts to the environment, especially the Great Barrier Reef.

“I think some people do keep to themselves if they have environmental concerns because the economy is in such a trough, they don’t want to be singled out as being against something that’s good for the economy,” engineer Kerry tells me over a beer at The Brewery, a pub located across the water from Adani’s Townsville headquarters.

Adani's headquarters in Townsville.

For some, the promise of jobs is more personal than others. Matthew, a 22-year-old teacher from Mackay says he knows about 10 friends who don’t have jobs.

Most are his age or older and on average they’ve been unemployed for a couple of

months. Many of them are looking for jobs in the mining industry.

Matthew says has concerns about the environmental impacts of the Adani mine but it’s hard to go past the plight of his mates.

“I think at the end of the day, it does have to be one or the other and seeing the state of most people without work, it would be better to go ahead,” he says.

Everyone who tells me they support the mine has a similar perspective.

On the way to the airport, local cabbie Warwick says: “Most people can’t wait to see it started.

“I’m sick of hearing from the Greenies ... we need the mine for employment, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Warwick believes in the resilience of the reef and doesn’t think it’s going to die anytime soon, saying it’s been dealing with cyclones, sediment and chemical run-off for years. He’s angry about the environmental activists who have been protesting in Bowen in the past week and says he’s heard Adani workers in Townsville are basically in hiding.

THE SEARCH FOR JOBS

As Warwick pointed out, people in the area are desperate for jobs now and that’s exactly what Adani is promising.

When you live in an area that’s experienced the second highest rise in unemployment in Australia over the past five years, it’s understandable residents are keen to support Adani.

According to figures released in August, nearly one in four young people in Townsville were unemployed.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has pointed to the loss of about 850 jobs at Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel refinery as a contributor.

Now the area is looking to projects like a $140 million stadium development funded by government, as well as the $16.5 billion Carmichael mine, to boost jobs.

In June Adani announced its chairman had given the project the go-ahead with pre-construction works to start in the September quarter. In August it was revealed the company would break ground on its mine in October.

While the press statements paint a picture of works gearing up, evidence of this activity is harder to find on the ground.

One of the first companies to benefit from the start of works is the Charters Towers-based civil contracting firm GA Services.

Adani has said the business would refurbish the company’s existing exploration camp accommodation. About 250 rooms at the Carmichael camp were expected to come online by early September.

But trying to find evidence of a jobs boost was difficult — not least because it’s almost impossible to find GA Services at all.

The firm does not list its address online, only that it’s located on Bluff Road, a largely rural area that features a school, explosives company and gold mining operation. It’s mostly residential and random signs attached to fences advertise the services of a mobile dog wash or “stock whips for sale”. The state of the local economy can be seen in the many houses with “for sale” signs out front.

Bluff Road, Charters Towers is a mostly residential area.

There’s the odd small business.

But driving up and down the road, the one thing you won’t find is the GA Services offices.

Property searches reveal the business is run from a four-bedroom house on a sprawling rural property that includes a machinery shed and horse stables.

When asked why they don’t advertise, managing director Dean Bowditch told news.com.au they “like to hide”, possibly referring to controversy around being associated with Adani and other mining companies.

When asked if the company had hired more workers for the Adani contract Mr Bowditch said he wasn’t allowed to comment.

SO WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

Even among those who support Adani, there’s scepticism about whether more jobs will be delivered.

Jen, 28, has lived in Charters Towers for 26 years and said people were pretty divided about the mine, with some worried about the environmental impacts but also concerned about jobs.

“I support it, as long as locals get the jobs,” she said. “They can promise everything but I haven’t really seen the benefits yet.”

Jen’s partner is looking for a job (not in the mining industry) and she said he hadn’t noticed any new positions being advertised.

Charters Towers is about two hours drive away from the proposed Carmichael mine and the Adani mine was front page news last week, with local real estate agents proclaiming that a mining revival was starting to kick in.

Lisa Palmer from Raine and Horne in Charters Towers told The Northern Miner that rental properties were in demand.

The optimistic outlook was credited to Adani’s Carmichael mine as well as Red River Resources’ Thalanga mine just to the west of Charters Towers and Ravenswood.

“We’ve got Adani contractors here now and there’s another major project on the books that could happen early next year,” Ms Palmer said.

She believes the Adani project will have a big impact on the community and Charters Towers will become a popular drive-in-drive-out hub with Adani workers.

“It’s only two and half hours away to the mine and all of the schools are here. It’s a great place to live.”

But one resident putting his home up for sale had a different story.

Brian, a local businessman, is selling his six-bedroom home and moving to Townsville.

He said he knew of at least 29 foreclosures on homes with mortgage defaults in the past 18 months.

“There are a lot of empty houses,” he said.

A home for sale on Bluff Road, Charters Towers.

Redundancies at the Pajingo gold mine have hit the town hard and the promise of an economic boost from Adani are not yet making a difference. He personally doesn’t think the mine will boost the local area much.

“There’s no real talk (about Adani), there’s no excitement,” he said.

He said his 16-year business had dropped “easily by half” in the last year, although that’s not the reason he is leaving Charters Towers. Brian says he wants a change of scene and to be closer to better medical facilities as he edges towards retirement.

But taxi driver David Verhagen believes things are changing.

Mr Verhagen works the night shift in Townsville and said he had noticed a difference in the last three months.

“Taxi drivers are one of the first people who notice differences in the economy ... and particularly in the last two months ... my earnings have increased,” he said.

“I tend to think there is more money floating around the community and more positivity about the future of Charters Towers than there was six to 12 months ago.”

‘ZERO JOBS FOUND’

It’s perhaps not surprising that Charters Towers hasn’t felt much of an impact from the mine. The main benefit to the town would come from fly-in, fly-out workers who have families and decide to base themselves in the town instead of living in purpose-built accommodation that Adani is planning at Moray Downs, a cattle station that is expected to become home base for Adani’s workers.

But one of the biggest beneficiaries from the Carmichael mine will be Townsville, which secured a highly sought after contract to be the location of Adani’s regional headquarters.

The office will also accommodate Adani’s remote operations centre, the first time that such a centre has been deployed in an Australian regional city.

In May there was excitement when giant signs were erected on a highly visible high-rise known locally as the Telstra building, where Adani has opened an office.

The conspicuous signage towers over motorists using the George Roberts Bridge and appeared almost overnight. But for many months, no one knew what they meant. Almost as soon as the two signs were installed, there was speculation they would be taken down.

Adani's headquarters in Townsville. Picture: Charis Chang

Adani spokesman Ron Watson told the Townsville Bulletin that the work order for the signs should have been cancelled because of doubt over an agreement with the state government about royalties.

Eventually the royalty issue was sorted out and the signs have remained.

What they mean though, is still unclear.

News.com.au made an unannounced visit to the modern offices last week and found it was operational.

Adani’s offices are not advertised on the tenant directory in the building’s foyer and visitors can’t gain entry to the offices unless they are buzzed through locked glass doors.

A sign on the glass doors staff reminds staff to be extra vigilant about security due to “potential activism”.

The receptionist politely refuses to allow entry to the offices but I spot at least four people in the office walking around.

Smokers outside the building also tell me at least a couple of Adani workers join them regularly for a cigarette.

It’s clear Adani understands how important its promise of jobs is to its public support. On a desk outside visitors are invited to take a flyer with details of Adani’s jobs portal and an email for people to contact with “specific employment related queries”.

However, logging on to the jobs portal is quite a confusing experience.

Outside Adani's Townsville office. Picture: Charis Chang.

Those looking for jobs at Adani are instead greeted with listings for positions including an assistant retail store manager position at Jay Jay’s in the Sydney suburb of Burwood.

If you don’t specify any industry or location, 1518 jobs are advertised for positions like a pastry chef, mental health registered nurse, road patroller, maintenance operators and welders around Australia.

A link that takes you to “roles currently being advertised by Adani Australia”, comes up with “0 jobs”.

With works expected to begin in October, news.com.au asked Adani how many jobs had already been created as part of the project but did not receive a response.

For all it’s bluster, many in the community are sceptical about how close Adani is to starting work.

Adani has said the Carmichael projects would generate 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.

A project overview on the Queensland State Development’s website lists up to 1075 jobs associated with construction of the mine and another 1400 for the railway line.

There’s 3800 operational jobs for the mine and up to 120 for the railway line.

This makes for a total of 6495 jobs for a mine that is estimated to have an operating life of 60 years.

But during a Land Court of Queensland case in 2015, Adani’s own expert witness agreed the mine would increase average annual employment by just 1206 job full-time equivalent jobs in Queensland and 1464 jobs across Australia, once jobs lost in other sectors were taken into account.

Some would say that even 1000 new jobs would be welcome in Queensland’s struggling regional areas, but where and when those jobs will be delivered remains unclear.

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