PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Interstate fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers from New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory will either need to be based in Queensland or would not be allowed into the state, as the state government implemented new border closures from August 8.

Queensland’s Chief Health Officer has declared all of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory as hotspots for the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) on Friday said that the resources sector within the state would continue to strictly comply with all government protocols to prevent the spread of the virus, especially into regional areas.

CEO Ian Macfarlane said that all FIFO workers from New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory would now need to be based within Queensland if they wanted to continue to work in the state.

“The only exception is if there is a potential safety incident, serious failure of equipment or a critical maintenance issue on a site.

“The latest protocols allow for a small number of highly skilled safety personnel and specialist maintenance workers to enter Queensland on a case-by-case basis, but only under extremely strict conditions,” he said.

“The resources industry has been preparing for the possibility of more border closures for months, so bringing in specialist workers from interstate will only be necessary in the event of an unforeseen or unavoidable incident.”

He said the QRC would continue to work closely with the state government to prioritise the health and security of the community and the economy, and to support the 372 000 people who currently work in the resources sector.

“It’s crucial the industry is able to continue to operate and maintain jobs, support local businesses and underpin the Queensland economy,” Macfarlane said.

“For everyone’s sake, we need to continue to work together to keep the mining and energy sector healthy and fully operational, to help Queensland recover financially from Covid-19.”

Total state exports from Queensland for the 12 months to June were A$77.4-billion, with mining and energy exports contributing A$63-billion, or 81%, to that figure.