Mingenew council raises concerns about onsite staff accommodation for Mineral Resources’ Lockyer development

A Mid West shire is opposing the fly-in, fly-out — or drive-in, drive-out — nature of a proposed $850 million gas development in its backyard, saying it will get little benefit if a temporary workers’ camp goes ahead. The Shire of Mingenew held a special council meeting on Monday to submit feedback on a development application from Mineral Resources to build onsite accommodation for its Lockyer gas project Mineral Resources, led by businessman Chris Ellison, is seeking approval to build a 250-terajoule gas project at Lockyer, near Dongara. That will include six gas wells, pipes, a processing plant, and a workers’ camp. Comments from Monday night’s meeting will be passed on to the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage, which is responsible for the application’s approval. The council supports approval of the gas processing facility and wells, but opposes the introduction of onsite accommodation for 10 reasons outlined in an official document. Mingenew shire president Gary Cosgrove said during his 11 years on the council, the primary goal of the community strategic plan had been to increase the residential population. “Then to have a very large industry come in, spending $850m to develop this, and to think they’re just going to drive-in, drive-out or fly-in, fly-out,” he said. “We’d rather them have houses in town and be a part of the community.” One reason for the council’s opposition is a desire to change the culture surrounding sexual harassment towards women in the FIFO industry. The official council document outlines townsite housing as a favourable step in changing antisocial FIFO culture, which can be exacerbated by onsite accommodation. “I believe (it) will be a dry camp — so that to me says the management of Mineral Resources hasn’t got a very high regard for the quality of people they employ,” Cr Cosgrove said. The document states the establishment of the 24-bed onsite accommodation contradicts the aim of the local planning scheme and strategic community plan, which is to boost the town’s permanent population. “Suitably qualified local residents will be prioritised for jobs and local contractors used where available, although the workforce is expected to largely consist of drive-in, drive out or fly-in, fly-out due to the 24-hour operations and specialist roles,” a Mineral Resources spokesperson said. Principles outlined in the State Planning Strategy seek to create “places where people want to live and work, and sustainable, resilient regions”, which the Shire believes is also being contradicted. “It might be argued that the project proponent would be better caring for its workforce by housing them in a townsite environment that has a community culture and lifestyle,” the executive recommendation says. The proposed site is 17km west of Mingenew and 30km east of Dongara. The Shire of Irwin plans to make a submission to the DPLH focusing on land-use categories within the project, after raising the issue at its April ordinary council meeting. But it’s understood the shire will not oppose an on-site camp as long as it meets all the requirements. If the project is given the green light, about 40 full-time operational staff will be employed, with up to 20 people typically on site at any given time. MinRes is seeking backing from the Environmental Protection Authority to build the plant at export-scale. Documents lodged with the EPA show MinRes will take two years to build the project and will run the operation for 15 years. The project was submitted to the State Development Assessment Unit in January. The Mingenew council voted unanimously against the approval of the onsite workers’ accommodation on Monday, which was to be passed on to DPLH on Tuesday.