The fly-in, fly out debate: what happens to the communities?

The House of Representative Standing Committee Enquiry’s report Cancer of the Bush or Salvation of the Cities suggests one of the primary concerns about the use of FIFO operations is their impact on established communities and the perceived rejection of towns and their way of life in favour of high wages and temporary camp living environments. WA has a well established resource industry with several major thriving rural centres that have grown from this industry. These long-term resource communities have a vested interest in the growth of the resource sector; however, to be sustainable they want to encourage workers and their families to live and engage in the local community.