Labour dearth turns boss into chauffeur

WHEN Ed Morrison is flying his light aircraft above the sunburnt outback between Cloncurry in north Queensland, and Port Augusta in South Australia he feels like a glorified chauffeur. In many ways, he is.

WHEN Ed Morrison is flying his light aircraft above the sunburnt outback between Cloncurry in north Queensland, and Port Augusta in South Australia he feels like a glorified chauffeur. In many ways, he is.

"I don't have much choice," Morrison, 34-year-old Mayor of the mining town of Cloncurry, told The Australian after another long flight.

As one of Cloncurry's leading property developers, Morrison is on a mission to finish building a new shopping centre and supermarket on the main street.

But there's a hitch. In the resources boom, the big mining companies in one of the most heavily mineralised areas on the planet are paying unprecedented salaries to skilled and unskilled workers.

Morrison realised his supermarket would not get built unless he looked farther afield for tradesmen. So once a fortnight he takes off from Cloncurry's airstrip and points his six-seater in the direction of Port Augusta.

When he arrives after a flight of almost five hours, commercial builder Chris Phillips and his two apprentices, Brad Searle, 18, and Todd Carey, 17, climb on board for the return leg. The most popular stopover is the Birdsville Hotel for a quick lamb roast and a lemonade.

"If you told your grandfathers that you had to fly from one end of the country to the other to put the walls and roof on a building, they would think you're mad," Morrison said. "We're only doing normal building tasks. It's nothing fancy.

"But we just can't get the workers. It's getting to the stage where there's not much point in building. I may as well sit down for five years until the cycle turns around again. Not that long ago, tradesmen were not worth much. Now they're gold." Morrison is thankful he bought the aircraft and learned to fly a few years ago.

If it were not for his initiative and the availability of the building crew from the rural township of Wilmington, near Port Augusta, to work for a week or two at a time before returning to their homes and families, his costs would be even more exorbitant.

"I can put the roof on the building for about $110,000. I got some prices from contractors in Townsville, but they were completely unrealistic - more than $280,000," Morrison said.

"I don't mind the flying across the country. You get to see Australia."

With each return flight burning about $1600 in fuel, Morrison saves time and money flying his own aircraft instead of relying on Qantas.

Phillips, 34, reckons his mates in South Australia are green with envy.

"And the two apprentices think they're princes," he said laughing. "It's exciting. I enjoy the trip. We'd have another tradesman working for us if we could find one."