Coronavirus Australia: Matt Canavan calls for FIFO ban to prevent ‘catastrophic’ outbreak
Matt Canavan calls for temporary ban on FIFO workers into regional areas in bid to neutralise COVID-19 threat to remote, indigenous communities.
Former Resources Minister Matt Canavan has called for a temporary ban on fly-in, fly-out workers into regional areas, citing the need to neutralise the COVID-19 threat to remote and indigenous communities.
The Rockhampton-based senator has written to Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable and Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk urging them to tighten coronavirus protocols to protect regional towns from a “catastrophic” outbreak at mines sites.
Senator Canavan has suggested resources companies relocate capital city based miners to regional centres and impose tougher self-isolation measures for critical workers.
“I urge the resources sector to immediately move away from large scale FIFO arrangements, at least between capital cities and mining towns,” Senator Canavan told Ms Constable.
“Both the Queensland and West Australian governments have closed their borders because the movement of people between states is too great a risk. Surely then, there is just as great a risk of movement of people within states, especially from areas where community transmission is occurring.
“In this regard, I note that the Queensland Government has announced increased testing in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Cairns because of concerns of community transmission.”
Senator Canavan said the resources industry should implement enhanced testing of workers flying to mine sites beyond “symptom and temperature checks”.
Senator Canavan – who resigned as resources minister in February during the Nationals leadership crisis – told the MCA with many local businesses forced to shut, the mining sector “must take steps to commensurately reduce the risk of transmission” to keep operating.
“I do not believe that the risk is being adequately reduced,” he wrote.
Senator Canavan told The Australian the Queensland government’s closing of its borders made sense in keeping the growth rate of COVID-19 to “one of the lowest in the country”.
“However, by that logic the movement of people within states is just as much of a risk, and more so when it involves movements from cities where the virus is spreading to small country towns that don’t have the virus at the moment.”
“The continuing large movement of FIFO workers from Brisbane to small towns is too big a risk to small towns who don’t have the health infrastructure to deal with an outbreak.
“These movements should be stopped and workers could be relocated to regional areas without community transmission so that we could ensure the safety of small country towns and especially vulnerable indigenous communities.”
The Australian last week revealed mining companies and the unions had joined forces to keep Australia’s resources industry operating through the COVID-19 crisis to shield more than one million jobs.
The MCA, in tandem with federal, state and territory authorities and the unions, has implemented COVID-19 health and safety protocols to protect workers and the resources sector.
