Study counts the cost of CSG
THE coal seam gas boom led to dramatic spikes in crime rates, property prices, rents and business income, according to an ongoing study by the University of Queensland.
But as the boom ended in the Surat Basin, prices plunged and crime rates remained high in places like Chinchilla but fell in others.
Business continues to prosper, according to the study, but the fall in housing demand meant Chinchilla was left with 250 empty houses which has been described as a disaster for real estate. Investors were found to be struggling with mortgages and the UQ study said the coal towns of Moranbah and Dysart were considered high risk by banks.
Some people were forced to leave gas towns as prices spiked, but others were also able to cash in by selling their homes at the top of the market and investing for the next generation.
In some cases the young people who found work with the new industry left town but returned as FIFO workers.
In the central Queensland town of Moranbah, the coal boom left its own hangover of empty houses, one of which was used as a haunted house in Halloween celebrations.
But study shows that economically the benefits continue with business income in the Surat Basin growing at a rate that is four times greater than before the boom while unemployment remains well below the Queensland average.
“Rises and falls in housing costs seem to have driven inward and outward migration by different income groups, as one might expect,” the study said.
“With a dip in rents, crime rates are up, partly reflecting a general Queensland trend. However, in a number of these towns, the rise in drug-related arrests is outpacing the Queensland rises. “Despite stresses arising at the lower end of the income scale, personal incomes are close to following their general upward trend.”
It pointed to social impacts caused by the boom and said US studies showed such boom cycles can take 15 to 20 years to recover from.
The Gasfield Commission chair Ruth Wade said the study would be used to help business and local government deal with the highs and lows.
She said the study
provided Queensland with hard evidence of the benefits and negatives of the cycle.
“If there has been a stepped increase of business activity of four to five times compared to before CSG of
course there is going to be change, including social change,’’ Ms Wade said.
“People are better off. When you develop a whole new industry in what was agricultural service centres it brings in bad and good so
we need to help people to build capacity to deal with that.
“Economically, the numbers are clear,” she said.
“There has been a significant increase in
business income and with that comes good and bad.
“Different activity has brought with it pressures and stresses that they would not normally have to accommodate and it was all very quick.”