The mining boom is throwing up plenty of lucrative opportunities for income seeking grey nomads.
Up in Far North Queensland, for example, so many local men have been lured into the mines by the big dollars on offer that the sugar industry has been forced to look beyond its traditional employment pool … and that means more women and more older workers.
One of the larger companies, Mackay Sugar, happily admits that recruitment has been a challenge recently.
“Back to 2005, we had 200 people working for us. And if you look at 2011, we’ve only got 60 of those people left,” the company’s cane supply manager, Mike Huxley, told the ABC. “What the industry’s actually done is looked at employing more female drivers and shunters and that’s been a great asset for us.”
Mackay Sugar has also attracted grey nomads, many of whom who have been earning their tickets to drive the sugar cane locos. Lorraine Emery from Gympie is among them
“It’s a seasonal job. It suits me down to the ground because I don’t like to work full time,” Ms Emery told the ABC. “It’s wonderful to come to North Queensland and we’re assured of about between five and six months work every season and that’s fantastic. That keeps us for the rest of the year.”
Companies like Mackay Sugar source seasonal workers nationwide. A loco driver can apparently earn more than $52,000 for a 25-week season.
