Mobile v Stayers

Each day we are reminded of the multi-million, even billion-dollar, projects touted for Central Queensland. Be it Shoalwater Bay, ring road, coal mine, wind farm, solar farm, levee bank, and the promises that local businesses will get preference in their construction. While some may be thinking: it’s an election year, we’ve heard it all before and not much really happens (after the election); what if three or four of these projects did actually start construction, con-currently? With the labour pick-up in the mines, local businesses are now already losing skilled staff to higher paying mining companies and their first-tier contractors. Imagine what will happen when you add three or four new huge projects to this. Where will the smaller local businesses find skilled labour to not just replace staff but meet the possible increased demand? No doubt this question has been asked and solutions are being discussed, hopefully some of them have started being implemented, as this labour availability issue can’t be left to solve when the tender contracts are awarded. Training, upskilling local unemployed and under-employed, along with the promised manufacturing hub, should be part of the solution but this may not be enough. For our CQ communities to really benefit from these big projects we need to attract more people to move to our region. And planting the thought for them and their families to move here has to start now, as this normally isn’t an overnight decision. The big companies will get the media attention and can afford the on-going national advertising strategies and salaries to attract the talent they will be seeking. But what of the smaller, local, companies that may be fortunate enough to win a sizable contract? How do they compete for this limited talent pool? Again, I suspect this is a question being presently tackled. One suggestion I like to add to the strategies being considered is for local businesses to unite behind a marketing campaign to promote not just the liveability of the region but also the diversity of local businesses and the opportunities they offer. ‘But this is being done’, is maybe the response this suggestion gets. And that mobile workforce, that moves from one mega project to another, is possibly already being targeted by current advertising strategies. Is there a secondary market though, perhaps not quite as concerned about the money to be made and not seeking 10 days on 7 days off, away from home employment arrangements? Workers who might move their family if ‘the total package’ was attractive enough. A secondary market that largely stays after the construction is done, buys a home, sends their kids to local schools, joins local sports clubs, spends their weekends (and money) around the region and prefer working for a smaller business, where their efforts are recognised by the owner. Perhaps not as easy to attract as the ‘mobile worker’, but in the bigger picture would one from this ‘stayers’ secondary market be worth 10 of the ‘move on’ others!  This ‘stayers’ market is a big part of the answer to solving possible pending local businesses employment issues, and making our communities more resilient after the construction phases are completed? Now is the time local businesses need to start organising, not competing, amongst themselves and look at the bigger picture for them and the communities they live in to make the best out of these touted multi-million and billion dollar projects.