Job drain warning
TRAEGER MP Robbie Katter has raised the alarm about a looming regional exodus after rail jobs from the Outback were moved to Townsville.
The Katter’s Australian Party leader said there was a great desire by governments to centralise services, but this could be detrimental to the whole region in the future.
Mr Katter said while jobs may be relocated from Mount Isa, Cloncurry, and Charters Towers to Townsville now, soon it could be Townsville losing jobs to Brisbane.
“We need to draw the line, we’re all fighting the same fight,” he said.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that Mr Katter’s electorate experienced a 1 per cent population decline from 2018 to 2019.
Mr Katter said the biggest issue raised at a meeting of regional mayors in Longreach last month was the loss of residents in outback towns.
“One of the biggest precursors to a loss of population is a lack of jobs,” he said.
But Charters Towers Mayor Frank Beveridge believes the coronavirus pandemic may have the opposite effect on regional towns.
Cr Beveridge said the pandemic had helped people realise there were downsides to living in densely populated areas.
The mayor believes now is the perfect time to pitch a regional lifestyle to people looking to escape the hustle and bustle of city life.
With many businesses discovering it was possible to work remotely amid the pandemic, people may move to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle.
Cr Beveridge said in the next three years Charters Towers would experience a boom as the Adani Carmichael Coal Mine kicked off, and work starting on the Big Rocks Weir and the Singapore military project at Greenvale.
“We think some jobs can be fly in fly out, but a lot of the other ones can’t be,” Cr Beveridge said.
“I believe that some regional areas in Queensland are on the edge of a reversal of the population drift, because of the job opportunities that are here.
“We don’t want people visiting for jobs, we want people to raise their families here.”
Cr Beveridge said there were benefits to living in regional areas, including cheap housing, lucrative jobs in the mining industry and a relaxed lifestyle.