Resources industry Brisbane’s biggest employer, study finds
Queensland’s biggest resources town has one in four people in a job supported by mining and energy, with the sector earning the city almost $40bn annually. SEARCH YOUR REGION
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Brisbane is Queensland’s biggest resources town, with one in four people in a job supported by mining and energy, a sector that earns the city almost $40bn annually – five times what the state’s second biggest area rakes in.
Independent research for the Queensland Resources Council has found the sector directly and indirectly supports the jobs of 182,778 people living in the Brisbane local government area.
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 on the special topic page here.
By comparison, the entire Queensland public sector workforce is comprised of almost 260,000 full-time-equivalent jobs, with 107,862 and 76,520 of those in the departments of health and education respectively.
The total economic contribution of the resources sector to Brisbane was $38 billion in 2022-23, which equated to 28 per cent of the local government area’s total gross regional product.
“Many Queenslanders might think that the resources sector is an industry that only provides opportunities for people living in regional and remote parts of our great state but the extensive independent research behind QRC’s Annual Economic Contribution report shows that’s not the case,” QRC chief executive Janette Hewson said.
“In terms of jobs supported and economic contribution, the Brisbane local government area is Queensland’s biggest resources town.”
According to the research, the sector directly spent in Brisbane more than $1.4 billion in wages for 7817 jobs, while another $15.3 billion was spent supporting 5945 local businesses and 103 charities and sports clubs.
Ms Hewson said those nearly 6000 local Brisbane businesses ranged from equipment and clothing suppliers to consultants, contractors, caterers and general retailers.
At least 50 mining and resource companies list their head offices in and around Brisbane’s CBD, with dozens more leasing large commercial spaces for its day-to-day operations.
A Colliers analysis of those addresses estimates the sector occupies over 150,000sq m of office space.
Colliers Queensland Office Leasing national director Matt Kearney said mining and resources companies would be largest the private sector occupier of office space in the CBD, beaten only by the footprint of Commonwealth, state, and local government operations.
“The vast majority of them focus on the CBD as a location and view Brisbane as a bit of a hub that can feed into the regions,” he said.
“From an accessibility point of view, it’s easy to get to … and you’ve obviously got all the amenities like retail, food and beverage, public transport or you can drive in.
“All of these mining and energy companies also do a lot of work with the state government, whether that be lobbying, or satisfying rules and regulations, or handing out big cheques for mining royalties to the state so there is being close to that too.”
Mr Kearney said the presence of the companies, many considered blue chip, helped bolster wider confidence in the CBD property market.
“They’re viewed as a very valuable tenant and quite often if an office building is good enough for them it’s a good endorsement to attract other tenants,” he said.
Of those that don’t work in the CBD, Brisbane Airport estimates around 4000 resources workers a day travel though its terminals.
Last year there were 7226 mining charter flights in and out of the airport.
In addition, people working in the resources sector are heavy uses of scheduled domestic services to destinations such as Mount Isa, Emerald, Roma, Moranbah, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Cloncurry and Townsville.
Major resource industry participants reliant on Brisbane Airport to facilitate connections include BHP, Anglo American and Glencore, not just in Queensland, but in other interstate resource regions.
Brisbane Airport head of public affairs Henry Tuttiett said: “Every Monday morning Brisbane Airport’s domestic terminal is a sea of high-vis uniforms, with thousands of mining industry workers departing on scheduled and charter flights to mine sites across Queensland.
“Brisbane Airport is critical to enabling jobs in the resources sector.”
Senex Energy general manger of access and approvals Larissa Dudley is one of the thousands of resource workers who commute daily to the CBD for work when she is not conducting field visits.
The Cannon Hill mother of two has worked for the company for 12 years.
“I think it is a fairly significant portion of the corporate part of Brisbane is taken up by the resources sector,” she said.
“I guess it’s hard to pick because we are all coming in just standard city attire so it’s hard to know who works where.
“I think there is a significant workforce in the city that is resources based, but it is rare to see them in the hi-vis attire.”
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Originally published as Resources industry Brisbane’s biggest employer, study finds
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