It would be an absolute tragedy if Boggabri lost its iconic and long-standing butcher shop and the Battler’s Cafe.

I commend the Boggabri Business Promotions group for encouraging locals to shop locally to try and prevent such occurences.

However, I question that the change in the retail landscape in Boggabri is caused by a change in local shopping habits and I worry that if we don’t accurately identify the cause of this issue, we will continue to make the same mistakes, leading to the continual demise of our retail base in our fantastic little town.

I know my shopping habits haven’t changed, so what has changed?

Not only have we seen the closure of the cafe recently, we have also seen the close of the CWA and the bowls club, no junior rugby league anymore, the loss of two men’s cricket teams and a reduction in school student numbers.

When looking at the social and economic profile of Boggabri now, we cannot but help notice that more than 66 family farms have been purchased by our two multi-national open-cut coal mines.

We can also note the establishment of an 850-bed temporary accommodation facility in Boggabri that allows workers to drive in, work and drive out again.

It would be pertinent to assess how these two rapid and massively scaled changes have impacted our local businesses, and perhaps encourage them to “shop locally”.

Sadly, many of these decisions have already been made and Boggabri has been set on its path. However, we have an opportunity now to identify other positive strategies to revive our “little town with a big heart” and we have the chance to not make the same mistakes again

While the coal seam gas (CSG) industry presents similar stories of growing prosperity, the facts from Queensland and from the industry itself should be carefully reviewed in order that we ensure we make the decisions that are in the best interest of our community, first and foremost.

Ultimately, the operational phase of the Narrabri Gas Project will deliver 16 permanent jobs for locals by the estimations of Santos’ consultants on this matter (according to the Allen Consulting Group Report “The Economic Impacts of Developing Coal Seam Gas Operations in Northwest NSW Report to Santos”, December 2011).

Santos has told me personally that the project will have 150 ongoing locally based jobs (50 in head office). Most of them will be filled by experienced workers from other places staying in DIDO/FIFO (drive-in, drive-out, fly-in, fly-out) accommodation, similar to what we see now. 

For the sake of my children’s future, I encourage our local leaders and decision makers to be real about these industries and their motivations and compare these to the motivations of local people who have made a life choice to live here.