Reshaping Rural Communities ‘at a Distance’: The Resource Boom, FIFO and Non-mining Towns

Abstract

The origins of this book lie with work done over more than a decade in rural, regional and remote throughout Australia where mining has transformed local economies and communities, and has had a profound effect on people and businesses. During that time, Australia experienced a resources boom, the scale of which was unprecedented. The economic and social consequences of the boom have been varied and complex. Long-distance commuting and all the variations of workforce mobility played a significant role in changing how work is done, especially in the resources sector. The combination of new industrial relations laws, strong international demand for Australian mineral resources, greater efficiencies in the airline industry and labour shortages enabled long-distance commuting, particular fly-in/fly-out to become an embedded workforce practice. Long-distance commuting has, however, been contentious. Much of the criticism of the practice is focused on the resources industry which has heavily depended on fly-in/fly-out and drive-in/drive-out to meet labour force demands and labour flexibility, especially during the recent boom period. However, the Australian workforce has always had elements of mobility, and almost all sectors of the Australian workforce regularly commute between and within cities, from cities to the regions and vice versa, within and between regions and states. The reasons for workforce mobility are as varied, but the reality is few people notice. The scale and frequency of long-distance commuting during the resources boom, however, drew considerable media and subsequently political notice. Much of the public attention was less than favourable, and long-distance commuting, particularly fly-in/fly-out, was blamed for community and family breakdowns, a reckless economy and cashed up, irresponsible youth who, during their 'swing' (or recreational leave) behaved badly. The purpose of this book is to assess the social and economic impact of long-distance commuting in Australia, particularly during the mining boom of the first decade of the twenty-first century, and test the veracity of the many claims about fly-in/fly-out and other forms of worker mobility. The contributions in this book show that long-distance commuting provides both benefits and challenges vii

Wage compensation for fly‐in/fly‐out and drive‐in/drive‐out commuters

“…The FIFO/DIDO and standard daily urban commuting differs as the first implies workers cannot commute daily due to the remoteness of production centres in respect to residence areas. However, nowadays, FIFO/DIDO is not only used for remote areas, but is also used even when large cities are available around extraction areas and then workers prefer to live there instead of small town in the production's centre (Chapman et al ).…”