FIFO report to be tabled in parliament by March
AFTER more than 500 days, 231 submissions and 26 public hearings across the country, the public is finally going to be given the facts on fly-in, fly-out mining.
As the House of Representatives Parliamentary Inquiry delved into the practice - headed by Federal independent MP Tony Windsor - a committee spent almost 12 months travelling across Australia.
They ventured from capital cities of Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane to mining hotspots of Mackay, Moranbah in Queensland and Kalgoorlie and Karratha in Western Australia.
They even attended hearings at Narrabri in New South Wales.
Now the results of the committee's work, including comments from doctors, nurses, mining companies, environmentalists and a gamut of others, will be tabled before March during the first round of parliamentary sittings for the year.
Mr Windsor's office said there was no word on the exact date of release.
In the process of digging into the truths behind FIFO, medical experts told the committee that these workers were more likely to have sexually-transmitted diseases and depression.
After hinting that he would consider new laws and regulation, Mr Windsor faced the ire of mining lobby groups which worried that less flexible options could mean more struggles when finding workers.
Mr Windsor did not return requests for comment on Wednesday.
