Queensland mining towns thriving despite global economic crisis

Australia may be enduring the looming threat of recession, but many Queensland towns are in fact defying the downturn caused by the global crisis. Unprecedented growth in mining areas and a strong recovery in several agricultural communities is underpinning the state's economy. Leading the way is central Queensland's Isaac Regional Council area, where residents enjoy Australia's highest average incomes outside the major cities, according to property market researcher Colliers International. One of these booming Isaac region towns is Moranbah, located around 200km west of Mackay and surrounded by seven open-cut coal mines.  However, not all the locals of Moranbah are happy. If you're not part of the mining boom, you're being left far behind, as the surge in demand for accommodation has made house prices there the most expensive in the state. "Ordinary people can't afford housing out here. They have to be married or engaged or living with someone who works in the mines to afford to live here," says Bella Exposito, principal of Moranbah Real Estate. She said some people paid up to $250 a week to rent a room in a house.
Despite the financial crisis sweeping the globe, there is no sign that the mining industry's phenomenal growth in Queensland will cease any time soon. Colliers International research director Rory McLeod said there was $9 billion worth of mining and energy exploration projects in progress around the state. Further south at Dalby, about 200km west of Brisbane, mayor Ray Brown said that $100 billion worth of industrial projects were being considered for the region. The 47 projects, set to begin over the next five years, included open-cut coalmines, coal seam gas operations and 11 power stations, including a $1.4 billion wind farm. "We've been identified by the Government as one of the leading energy-providing provinces in Queensland," Cr Brown said. "Things are just getting started out here. We're on 38,000 sq m of pure coal." Dalby is home to 10,500 people, with an extra 4000 miners coming and going from the area on a regular basis. Cr Brown said he expected 16,000 miners would be working in the region by 2015, and said the race was on to provide sufficient community services and housing. Such development brings growth and prosperity for regional towns, in the form of jobs, services and new infrastructure, but it also creates conflict. "We are a rural-based shire and these (mining and agriculture) can be conflicting industries, especially in the battle for land," Cr Brown said. Derived from The Courier Mail, Queensland - 26th October 2008.