Cobar Feeling Fly-In, Fly-Out Pressure

A Federal Government inquiry has been told the mining industry's reliance on fly-in, fly-out workers is putting increased pressure on Cobar's infrastructure, including the town's water supply.

A submission by the Cobar Shire Council in western New South Wales says growth of the fly-in, fly-out workforce is expected to increase as new mines come online and existing mines expand.

The council's special projects officer, Angela Shepherd, says the workers are increasing pressure on medical services, the cost of rental properties and exacerbating severe water shortages in summer.

"Part of the problem is that we don't have a high enough water allocation and we lose a lot of water by the time it's taken out of the Macquarie River and reaches us 200 kilometres away," she said.

"So when you bring more people into town you have more pressure on that water supply and they're not counted as part of our population and it's very difficult to pressure governments to increase our water to cope with the increased population."

She says the large influx of men aged between 25 and 40 years old is also creating social issues.

"It impacts on the social fabric of the town because they're a transient population, they're often not integrated into our community," she said.

"So there can be law and order issues, there's impact on sporting and community groups because they can't find people to fill places and there's an impact on our volunteer community as well."

The council's submission says it is critical to find ways to attract families to the shire rather than increasingly relying on a fly-in, fly-out workforce that does not participate in the community.

Ms Shepherd says without some mining royalties being returned to the community it is difficult for the council to increase the level of services and facilities to attract new residents.

"The council would prefer to have a residential workforce rather than one that flies in and flies out," she said.

"I know the industry would prefer it as well because it's cheaper for them to have people in town and they also recognise the social and economic benefits of having people located in town."

Submissions to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Australia closed on Friday.

The committee, which is chaired by independent MP Tony Windsor, will hold public hearings across regional Australia before reporting back to the Government.

ABC Western Plains