FIFO workers must stop

THE global COVID-19 pandemic is upon us and Australians have hunkered down.

The medical professionals have made it very clear that our best defence is isolation. Our government has laid out strict rules for us to follow or risk fines and imprisonment.

But here in Queensland, a glaring hole in our defence is the fly-in, fly-out workforce, known as FIFO. Every week FIFO is bringing people from infected areas like Brisbane and spreading them across the state to relatively safe, isolated communities in regional Queensland.

It is only a matter of time before a single infected FIFO worker steps on the plane in Brisbane and 10 infected FIFO workers step off the plane in Mackay or Townsville.

The government must put our health before the economy. Our industries, in this case, the mining industry, must put their workers’ health before their profit margin. The FIFO work model will not work in a pandemic.

The obvious solution is a local workforce that is housed in the mining community and does not travel up and down the state. No one will necessarily lose their job but will have to work away from home for extended periods of time; a worthwhile sacrifice that will protect the community.

FIFO must stop now. Every day counts.

Tony Fontes, Jubilee Pocket

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