Over the last year the State Government and Resources Minister Scott Stewart have continuously misled the people of Queensland over QCoal’s commitment to Glenden and the free pass he and the Isaac Regional Council gave Glenden owner and operator Glencore to build a 1000-person worker’s camp at its Hail Creek mine the same distance from Glenden as Byerwen.
Lie number 1
The State Government and the Minister consistently claim that QCoal agreed to house its entire workforce in Glenden as part of its approval for the mining lease from the Resources Department and the Office of the Coordinator General (OCG). This is not true.
As can be seen from these extracts from QCoal’s approval, the intention was always that workers at Byerwen would be given a CHOICE of where they lived and that, if enough accommodation could not be found in Glenden, a camp would be built on the mining lease site.
As we know, QCoal has attempted to house more Byerwen workers in Glenden over the last seven years:
QCoal tried to purchase houses and accommodation units from the Glenden operator Glencore, but the deal fell through when the prices on the properties were adjusted significantly upwards at the last moment. QCoal has managed to purchase 13 homes (all currently inhabited by Byerwen staff) privately in Glenden.
QCoal then purchased land from the State Government for $1.4 million in Glenden to build a camp in the town. That approval was then rejected by the same State Government because it was too close to the school. The money was not refunded and QCoal still owns this now useless land.
QCoal then applied to have its onsite camp, which was built at a cost of approximately $30 million, approved. Such approval was nominally granted by this Minister but then thrown out when the secret legislation was introduced in August 2023.
It is important to note than more than 70 per cent of the existing 800 strong workforce at Byerwen have said they would have to reluctantly resign from working at the mine if they were forced to travel 40 minutes to work each day before and after a 12.5-hour shift.
What QCoal actually said in the approval by the Department and OCG is stated here:
31.3.4 Workforce Accom Strategy (summarised and extracted below)
Summary of strategy as follows, with extracted pages thereafter.
Stated strategy:
Give workers a choice of accommodation options:
Camp to be built in Glenden for those who did not which to become residents of Glenden
Housing/duplex for those who wish to become residents
It is not possible to know what % of workers will want to move to Glenden and become residents until we have a workforce to ask, as such for the purposes of initial planning we assumed 30%
At the time of EIS proponent seeking to acquire land to allow for flexibility and in anticipation of executing the camp and housing as per the strategy, etc.
Stated that if sufficient land is unable to be acquired, accommodation will be provided at an alternative location outside of Glenden such as on or near the mining lease.
And here in the OCG approval:
Lie number 2
The Minister also states that the Hail Creek camp was approved by the Nebo Shire Council 20 years ago. This is not true. Final approval for the Hail Creek camp was given by this Minister, with no objection from the Isaac Regional Council, in April 2022. We know this because the approval is a public document. This public document for Mining Lease 700026 clearly shows the living quarters and camp were approved by the Resources Minister to commence on April 1, 2022, for 20 years. Looks like the April Fool’s joke was on us. See extracts here:
Featured image source: The Australian