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Volume 6, Wednesday June 24th, 2009
Hoon
RDAS
Andamooka
Sports Day
Opal Classic
Page 5
Page 11
Page 19
loses vehicle
Hiltaba to be isolated B
The proposed site for the Hiltaba Village 15 kilometres from Roxby Downs on the Andamooka Road
usinesses who attended a special briefing on the Olympic Dam mine Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) last week asked serious questions concerning the operation of the proposed Hiltaba Village to be constructed approximately 15 kilometres from Roxby Downs on the Andamooka Road. The EIS states that the village will be home to upwards of 8,000 residents peaking in 2016. The business operators in attendance were highly concerned that references in the EIS that the residents of the village would virtually be discouraged to venture into the townships of Roxby Downs and Andamooka. The EIS Executive Summary states: “providing Hiltaba Village as a fully self contained accommodation village to encourage the workforce to remain there for social and recreational activities.” (page 51) The question asked by the business group was, “Would there be any regular bus service to fa-
cilitate those who wanted to travel into town for recreation, shopping and entertainment?” Mr Rob Harris, BHPBilliton Olympic Dam accomodation specialist, said, “The employees and contractors would be working 12 hour shifts and would have little time to travel into town except on their half a day off each week. “At this stage there was no plan to provide any transport to and from the camp and the towns. “The aim was to make the camp self sufficient so the residents did not need to regularly travel to either township.” Those village residents who wish to go to either of the townships will have to make their own way if they want to shop, participate in sport or attend entertainment and special functions. The lack of any transport service to and from the village disturbed local businesses as they saw it as a loss of potential business and more importantly that it sent a message of ‘you’re not welcome’ in our towns. “Making it too hard to move between Roxby and Andamooka and the village will potentially lose local businesses hundreds of thousands of
dollars per year. The last thing we want to do is alienate customers,” said Leigh Malcolm, Chairperson of the Roxby Central Retail Association. Questions were also asked concerning the quantity and style of retail that will be developed at the village. Mr Harris said, “There would be dining halls, internet cafés, general stores providing items such as toiletries, pharmaceutical goods and basic clothing. “The operation of the retail would be contracted out to the camps management who may well contract out the retail operations.” Part of the rationale of semi isolating the Hiltaba Village is to reduce any potential increase of crime that could be experienced during the construction phase. “The Township of Roxby Downs has fewer criminal offences per capita than South Australia. “While there is no reason to believe this would change, experience suggests that higher rates of crime and anti social behaviour could occur during the construction phase of the expansion” (EIS
Summary page 51). In real terms it is only five kilometres further than the distance between the town and Olympic Dam Village (10 kilometres) but now is much closer to Andamooka. If certain individuals had tendencies towards criminal activity or anti social behaviour, would five kilometres deter them from finding a way to make the trip? Clearly BHP Billiton have a suite of strategies to encourage the workers to stay in the village and initiatives such as high standard of motel accommodation and recreational and entertainment facilities will go a long way to keeping the residents at home. BHP Billiton’s workforce induction and education programs including fit for work programs, codes of conduct and safety initiatives are also effective tools to assist in keeping the workforce conscious of their responsibilities and their employers’ and colleagues’ expectations However, local businesses have raised the question: “Is the planned ‘protection’ of the town too heavy handed or even achievable?”
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