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Fly‐In/Fly‐Out , Flexibility and the Future: Does Becoming a Regional FIFO Source Community Present Opportunity or Burden?
Author(s) -
MCKENZIE FIONA,
HASLAM MCKENZIE FIONA,
HOATH AILEEN
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geographical research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.695
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-5871
pISSN - 1745-5863
DOI - 10.1111/1745-5871.12080
Subject(s) - boom , economic shortage , flexibility (engineering) , intermediary , fifo (computing and electronics) , competition (biology) , closure (psychology) , business , marketing , engineering , economics , market economy , computer science , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , management , environmental engineering , government (linguistics) , computer hardware , biology
The resources boom in A ustralia has resulted in considerable competition for labour, particularly in remote mining areas. Shortage of skilled labour has led mining companies to source workers from far afield, while the high incomes created by a tight labour market draw labour from across the country through long‐distance commuting arrangements such as fly‐in/fly‐out ( FIFO ). While much recent literature has focused on the impacts on receiving communities of these long‐distance commuters, less attention has been given to the experience of source communities. This paper compares the situation between two regional towns in which long‐distance commuters reside. The first, B usselton in W estern A ustralia, is among several chosen by R io T into to be labour source communities. The second, S tawell in V ictoria, is looking to long‐distance commuting as a response to the impending closure of their existing gold mine. Hence the case studies offer not only insights into source communities' experience of long‐distance commuting, but also a comparison between the bottom‐up approach of S tawell in trying to establish FIFO with the experience of B usselton as an example of top‐down labour sourcing. This paper seeks to highlight some of the development challenges encountered by communities and offer solutions as to how these might be addressed for the future.