Originally Posted by
Square Bear
The WA Premier sticks to his guns about closing the borders to keep the disease out, but not that long ago he was spruiking that Interstate FIFO could bring their families over, settle in WA and financial assistance would be given. Purpose to convince those from the Eastern States that even though you will live a zillion miles from your family and friends, WA is a great place to live. AGENDA....WA does not have to rely on FIFO..
We briefly considered that "offer" - my employer did up a whole pack with draft figures etc - and we both wholeheartedly rejected it outright. We would be, literally,
several tens of thousands of dollars worse off if we were to relocate to WA, and that is
with the relocation assistance on offer. And that's not counting the hundreds of thousands of QF FF points we'd lose over years to come as well from not going back east. Oh, there's also the annoying little problem of being the other side of the country from everyone we know and care about. Having to find new paediatricians and other specialists but according to McGowan "Come to WA, here's $20K!".
What that idiot doesn't realise about interstate FIFO is this:
If enough WA residents did the bloody work, the big miners wouldn't NEED interstate FIFO! The simple fact is, they can't or won't do it, particularly in more highly specialised roles, which is why not only the big players, but even contractors will offer FIFO roles with fully-paid-for flights back to Sydney, Brisbane, etc. Kind of makes me wonder if that was the reason they excluded both FIFO Specialists and non-specialists from the Closing the Border direction amendment that was signed back in July...
