Muswellbrook's new mayor has called on the region's coal mines to be better corporate citizens by reducing the number of "drive-in, drive-out" workers, to combat the shire's low population growth rate.
Jeff Drayton was voted in as the shire's mayor by his fellow councillors this week, and wasted no time addressing the city's big issues, pointing to the roughly 4000 non-permanent residents who base themselves out of Muswellbrook to work at the mines but spend their downtime - and money - elsewhere.
"We have one of the highest rates of non-permanent residents of any regional area, if not the highest in the state," Cr Drayton said.
"They come from Newcastle, Huntlee, Branxton, even the Central Coast and the Mid-Coast. They're here for five days of 12-hour shifts and when they leave, all the money goes with them."
Cr Drayton Muswellbrook had community facilities that would be envied in other regional towns, but population growth was one of the shire's most pressing issues, and the mines were exacerbating the issue by making it too easy for workers to drive-in and drive-out.
"We can't continue to grow as a community without people," he said.
We've got one of the lowest population growth figures in the state, which is extraordinary, given we live in the middle of the most job rich communities in NSW."
A former vice-president for the CFMEU northern district, Cr Drayton said he remembers when the region's mines used to invest in housing in the region to keep its workers local.
"Drayton mine bought houses for people to live in and 30 years later, those people are still living here," he said.
"In my view, they need to do that again. There's nothing stopping [the mines] from investing in housing in town so the people they employ can be permanent residents.
"They'll bring their families here, we'll have mums and dads with their kids at the footy on the weekend, they'll be involved with charities and community groups. They should help build the community like we used to."
Cr Drayton urged the Hunter mines to follow the policy of those in Queensland "that won't consider your application unless your postcode is local".
"The mines here are worried that if they don't let people travel, they won't attract people, but that's not the case and it never has been," he said.
"Of course it's hard to enforce on your current employees, but there's nothing stopping them doing it for future employees.
"If the mines won't [reduce drive-in, drive-out workers] voluntarily, we need to get a process to ensure they do. They need to operate reasonably in the communities they work in."
Former mayor Steve Reynolds did not re-contest the election, stepping down because it was "time to get the health sorted" after suffering a "mini-stroke" earlier in the year.
Cr De-Anne Douglas was voted to serve as Muswellbrook Shire Council's deputy mayor.
