miningreview
in common with their client base. The illuminating piece revealed women from Australia's east coast were flying to Western Australia and regional Queensland to work. And, just like their customers, were willing to put in long shifts – some were seeing between 10 and 12 men a night. In the report, University of New
England professor John Scott put it most eloquently when he said, "Men go to the mines hoping to make money.
Women go for the same reason. It's part of the frontier tradition. You get a lot of hard-working men, fortunes being made, buildings going up everywhere, bars opening, and prostitutes turning up, hoping to get a piece of the action." However, if these get-rich stories
seem too good to be true, they probably are, with many experts warning of the issues associated with such a rush of riches to previously poorer regions.
Already, health experts are warning
about the influx of fast food to these towns, claiming, perhaps unkindly, that their general population is already a little overweight and somewhat uneducated when it comes to healthy food choices. They believe the problem will only become exacerbated when a smorgasbord of fast food options arrives on their doorstep. Healthy Business physiologist Ashley McNicol, who is based in
65