Pilbara ghost town belies new mining boom

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Via the ABC:

It is hard to believe that Newman, in Western Australia, is the epicentre of BHP’s largest Australian iron ore operation when you take a drive past the town’s homes, boarded up and in a state of complete disrepair.

More than 150 homes — the majority of which are owned by the miner — are in this condition, though others belong to the State Government and some are privately owned.

The homes are based in the suburb of East Newman — often referred to by locals as East Timor — and sit alongside some of the newest properties in the town.

Shire of East Pilbara chief executive Jeremy Edwards and shire president Lynne Craigie have been meeting with State Government representatives in a bid to get a united approach to fixing the problem.

“We’re strongly advocating with all agencies with regards to getting a coordinated effort into tidying some of these up,” Mr Edwards said.

“We provided the list of the houses that we think are in a state of disrepair to BHP and the Department of Housing, and we are also conversing with the private property owners.

“I think that this has been occurring for some time now and [there is] a level of acceptance.

Damage keeps coming

In response to questions about the boarded up properties, a spokeswoman for BHP said windows in vacant houses were continually being smashed.

Houses are vandalised on average three times, with some vandalised up to nine times.

She added the houses were being used for substance abuse and squatting.

“BHP Housing has boarded up windows at a significant number of BHP properties in Newman as a safety measure and to preserve the integrity of our houses,” the miner said in a statement.

Alcohol driving kids out of home: police

Newman Police officer in charge, Senior Sergeant Mark Fleskens, said many factors are at play when it comes to damage and antisocial behaviour associated with the vacant houses, and that children were involved in many instances.

“Issues around anti-social behaviour are not different within Newman to any other regional WA town,” Snr Sgt Fleskens said.

“A lot of it is to do with alcohol or excessive alcohol consumption, and that has the flow-on effect [of not providing] a safe environment for the kids to be at home.

“With the number of kids we have around in Newman that are disengaged from school, they are looking for somewhere to go and unfortunately that is in those vacant houses.

“But when a group of kids are together, unfortunately they do get in to trouble, and there is an element of antisocial behaviour or just boredom.

“But that also sometimes leads into criminal behaviour which impacts on the community.”

Residents fed up

Doc Davey owns one of the worst damaged properties in Newman — a home he brought as part of his retirement plan.

“We had it leased out to the police for five years and then they vacated because of the problems that were emanating from the area. Straight after they left, within 3 months, the damage started,” Mr Davey said.

“We rebuilt the back fence six times, the damage just kept on coming.

“It is a basket case and we just haven’t been able to get on top of it.

Lucy-Anne Tokona lives in a home surrounded by vacant properties.

Recently one of the six properties boarded up to the rear of her house was used by numerous people for squatting.

She said she would feel safer if people were actually living in the homes.

“All of the houses around us have been empty for the two years we’ve been here,” Ms Tokona said.

“Its not much of a community neighbourhood, we need people living in the houses.

Calls to hire local workers

WA Nationals leader Mia Davies said Ms Tokana’s comments express what residents have been crying out for for years.

“This is a community that can sustain a residential workforce,” she said.

“They have an aspiration to be more than a dormitory town and there is certainly the capability to utilise some of the vacant and empty housing that is being left to rot and is causing enormous social issues in this community.

“The Government needs to do more.

“They need to be sitting down with BHP and actually asking them to make sure they have a set timeline for investment, and work with them to get that outcome.”

Ms Davies said it was “very distressing” to drive the streets of Newman to see so many houses left to neglect.

“There is a responsibility from not only BHP but from the Department of Housing to make sure that they are maintaining these properties appropriately,” she said.

Problem is being addressed, minister says

Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the State Government was working with BHP.

She said an announcement by the miner recently to offer drive-in, drive-out positions to workers at the Eastern Ridge and Jimblebar mine sites near the town was aimed at getting people to live in Newman.

“They are very actively engaged in changing the structure of two of their mines in that area, so that you’ll see more people coming in to live in Newman and DIDO-ing out to the mine sites,” she said.

“Ten years ago you couldn’t get a house in Newman. The downturn in mining has changed [that].

“Certainly BHP has got a considerable number of empty houses, but we are working with them and they have committed to their new announcement.”

In a statement, BHP did not put a figure on just how many people would take up drive-in, drive-out roles, but said the transition would be “organic and voluntary”.

The redress of lies, of course. It has always been thus. Mining booms and mining busts. the most important point to make is that there is no new mining boom nor is one coming. It is a temporary revenue boom that will fall away in due course as China’s structural slowing continues global supply responds to Vale’s issues.

It means that the only real economic impact of high prices is the Budget (with a little help from higher share prices).

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About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.