Negative social and financial impacts: In 2013 people working in non-gas industry employment in rural Queensland reported a deterioration in financial capital and local infrastructure as a result of CSG development5. Residents also reported that locals’ skills and knowledge and social cohesion were also impacted. Reasons for these impacts were the loss of skilled staff to the gas industry and the increased cost of labour, rent, transport, and goods and services for local businesses. More jobs were lost in regional QLD areas like Miles than were created. Once the construction phase completed the local economies were much worse off. This is a similar syndrome to what Darwin experienced after the INPEX project. The impacts are more severe in local regional economies.
- Fracking projects take jobs from other industries
- Fracking projects distort costs in local communities and reduce the viability of other industries.
- Fracking introduces a number of risks and negative impacts on social cohesion
- Fracking impacts on local amenity and transport
Transient Workforces
Existing gas developments in Australia rely on the use of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workforces. Wide ranging social impacts include a decline in local resident populations with less essential services and volunteer organisations, reduced community cohesion, detrimental impacts on local businesses, and social problems such as violence and crime in ‘host’ communities.1
1 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia. Cancer of the bush or salvation for our cities? Fly-in, fly-out and drive in, drive-out workforce practices in regional Australia; Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 2013. Queensland Parliament: Infrastructure, Planning & Natural Resources Committee, Inquiry into fly-in, fly-out and other long distance commuting work practices in regional Queensland, October 2015; West Australian Parliament, Education and Health Standing Committee, The Impact Of FIFO Work Practices on Mental Health.