 |
| Poppet Head on the Line of Lode |
Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) mine workers are a big issue Australia wide at the moment so what is happening in Broken Hill on that front? For starters the FIFO lifestyle is widely recognised as having a significant impact on the miner or other type of FIFO worker and their family's lives. It is difficult to cope with long periods apart from loved ones even though there is good money to be earned.
A great deal has been written about this subject, much of it negative. Broken Hill however is seen in a relatively good light for FIFO workers as it is an excellent, friendly, well serviced city in which to reside whilst working in the local mines or other fields which use FIFO workers. Broken Hill is quite unlike some of the more remote mining areas and towns which lack the significant cultural side that Broken Hill enjoys.
As I am no expert on the subject however, other than to understand the difficulties I mentioned above, I have instead listed some links to sites below that cover the topic more thoroughly.
- For starters, the topic is considered so serious that there is a Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into the subject which is being chaired by Federal Independent MP Tony Windsor. At the time of writing this article there were 231 submissions on the subject and the final report is still to be tabled in Parliament.
- ABC News article 18 April 2012, which refers to the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into FIFO, and refers to comments by the inquiry's chair Federal Independent MP Tony Windsor's regarding the positives of Broken Hill, as well as comments from a Broken Hill FIFO worker Jac McLaurin, who seems quite happy with life in Broken Hill.
- www.miningoilandgasjobs.com article on FIFO also looks an interesting read.
For your reference there are a number of large mining companies operating in and around Broken Hill, plus a number of other mid size and smaller players at the moment. The big 'names' in Broken Hill right now are Perilya Limited, CBH Resources Limited and Cristal Mining Australia Limited (Cristal) which was known as Bemax Resources Limited prior to 1 October 2012. Carpentaria Exploration Limited is also active in the region.
As mentioned above, mining is not the only industry to have FIFO workers. For example, Jac McLaurin referred to above in the ABC article works in a field which services both the mining and other industries.
 |
| Deb Hunt (left) with Kylee Mitchell "Short and Sweet" regional director, courtesy BDT |
On another directly related note, local Broken Hill writer Deb Hunt was one of four successful NSW entrants in the recent regional play festival "Short and Sweet". She was flown to Sydney last week to see the performance of her play "Clean Sweep", which came second in the audience vote and just missed out on a place in the final. It is the first play Deb has written.
Prior to her Sydney trip, Deb's play was well received in Broken Hill where it won "Best Script", "People's Choice" and "Best Production".
Here is a link to an article about Deb and her play from the 'Barrier Daily Truth' (BDT).
I hope I will have the opportunity to see the show sometime. It's theme is related to FIFO.
Cheers, Jane D
No comments:
Post a Comment