THE Australia Institute has told a Katherine forum on hydraulic fracturing that the controversial process has the potential to cause economic chaos for the town if its development is not carefully monitored.
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About 60 residents converged on the Katherine Sports and Recreation Club for the forum on November 18 and heard the organisation’s public engagement officer, Mark Ogge, explain why a resources boom could create problems for local businesses through “crowding out” by exploration companies.
He explained that evidence collected during south-west Queensland’s coal seam gas explosion suggested that existing Katherine operators could struggle to retain local skilled labour during the construction phase of fracking operations.
“The big impact is competition for skilled labour, so that will poach [skilled people] from any local manufacturing,” he told the Katherine Times.
“They’ll go to the gas field, which makes it difficult for local businesses.
“They spend a long time training people up [so] if they do want to keep people, they have to pay them twice or three times as much.”
If a bunch of speculators come in and build a whole lot more stuff, then you’ve got an oversupply afterwards and everyone goes broke.
- Mark Ogge
While he admitted that mitigation measures could be taken to minimise the impact in some communities, development in the Queensland towns of Dalby and Chinchilla proved a “feeding frenzy” could produce an oversupply of services, including accommodation.
“If a bunch of speculators come in and build a whole lot more stuff, then you’ve got an oversupply afterwards and everyone goes broke,” he said.
“There’s just too much investment.”
Katherine Town Council is currently pushing for a fracking exclusion zone within the municipal boundary and Mr Ogge met with elected members and executive staff on Thursday to outline his concerns.
