Hundreds of homes in a small Queensland town could be bulldozed as the local mine closes up operations.
But the regional council is urging the state government to reconsider its decision and keep the town standing to serve a new mine opening up down the road.
“It is just a ridiculous situation that we find ourselves in,” Isaac Mayor Anne Baker told Today.
She said there was “plenty of capacity” for incoming workers to be housed in Glenden.
“We are in the middle of a housing crisis,” she said.
“It is a reckless preliminary decision. I am just gobsmacked and lost for words.”
Glenden, south-west of Mackay, was built in the early 1980s by mining company Glencore, to serve as a home for workers at the Newlands coal mine and their families.
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The company is now closing up shop in the region, and according to its contract agreement, the emptied homes will be bulldozed in the name of rehabilitation.
That’s despite another major mine, operated by QCoal, opening up just down the road.
But QCoal is reportedly opting to build its own FIFO worker’s camp.
The state government has made a preliminary decision to grant QCoal permission to do so, but the regional council is calling on Resources Minister Scott Stewart to reverse his stance.
9news.com.au has contacted Glencore for comment.
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