The switch to seven day on, seven days off rosters at Cobar’s three large mines had been a body blow to the town’s sense of community, Fairfax Media’s Next Crop forum has heard.
Tracy McIntyre, who sits on the Regional Development Australia’s Orana board that covers Cobar, said the question had to be asked as to whether mining companies were doing their best to help the community of Cobar after switching several years ago to a seven days off-seven days on roster system that created a fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workforce.
The forum heard that the managers of the three mines regularly met to discuss rostering and other issues, but no community members were involved. It is believed none of the managers live permanently in town.
The forum heard that when CSA first opened a mine in Cobar, it helped build hundreds of homes, which bolstered the community. In the modern era many mining families had disappeared because of the FIFO system and also the drop in services at the town. Now at least 500 homes sit empty in town.
The Cobar shire’s population has slowly declined in the last 10 years from about 7000, to an official census figure of 4717 in the Cobar local government area in 2011, to 4,647 in the 2016 census. (Cobar shire is equal to an area of two-thirds of Tasmania.)
The town has gone from three full-time taxi drivers, to now one-and-half-taxis, with one of the taxi drivers close to handing his keys in, locals say.
The mines do contribute to town – helping keep the Cobar Weekly going with strong advertising revenue, and contributing to sporting teams. But the issue is the missing bodies in town – the people and families that not only spend in the businesses, but those that fill the rugby league or union or netball team, and whose children should be filling the classrooms.
Slowly family after family has left town, even those ones not connected to mining. Many are not surprised. People can buy a good home in Dubbo for the same amount as they could in Cobar (between $350,000 to $400,000), with access to more services.
The mines have not helped. Where once they gave employment priority to residents now, the priority is to move mine workers in and out of town quickly. For those who fly-in or fly-out, they hardly go to town, while those who drive up in buses or cars from Dubbo, they hop back in their vehicle as soon as their roster is completed and head home.
The chief NSW planner, Gary White, said Cobar council needed to develop a future plan and put it to government, otherwise the town would “miss the boat” of progress.
For a town that should be doing well from its strong mining and agricultural base, it was now even struggling to keep the tourists passing through on the Barrier Highway after the NSW Government declared caravaners could no longer stop at the well-known camping ground known as “Newy” on the outskirts of town. According to Cobar Weekly’s managing editor Sharon Harland, these campers were the bread and butter of the shops in town.
When mines don’t even have their managers living permanently in town we’ve got a problem.
- LInda Carter, Cobar
The council is currently battling to have the crown land re-opened to campers. “The interest in the debate over freedom camping is certainly keeping our paper’s circulation up,” she said. “Council is on to it, but everything is moving slowly.”
Meanwhile, most of the campers have migrated to a short-term fix in a spare block of land at the back of the Cobar Services Club, which itself is struggling to keep its doors open.
Cobar Services Club secretary manager Linda Carter has spent most of her life in Cobar and says it is sad to see the town suffering. Her club will last in the short-term period, but the long-term was not looking good. In one month the club dropped $100,000 in poker machine revenue due to fewer people in town – and fewer miners spending their money.
Luckily now the caravaners parked out the back have given some short-term relief to the cash flow woes. But costs still go up – insurance, water and so on. Luckily the club has saved on electricity by installing solar power a few years ago. “We’ve gone from spending $5000 to $8000 a month on electricity to just under $2000,” she said. “But insurance is high – we pay about $30,000 a year and water can rise up to $600 a month in the summer months.”
She says a combination of factors has lead to the loss of community in Cobar, but lays most of the blame on the seven-day mine rosters. “I know in Queensland towns are lobbying for 100 per cent of workers from their town. I think what we need is at least a 50 per cent of workers from the town that is in an isolated area. When mines don’t even have their managers living permanently in town we’ve got a problem.”
The town was also not making the most of tourism and campers travelling through. “Geographically we are located so most people have to stop before they go on to their next destination.”
Ms Carter is sure Cobar can turn the corner with a bit of help from Government.
“I don’t want to see my town die,” she said.