Lally urges community involvement

John Lally, Roebourne deputy Shire president at the GEA Business Luncheon held at the Gladstone Entertainment Centre.

Jen Tybell

THEY might be on the opposite side of the continent, but Karratha deputy shire president John Lally says Gladstone can learn plenty from his region.

For the past decade, Karratha has experienced a resources boom similar to the one Gladstone is now embarking on.

“Community leaders, and the community itself need to part of a solution,” he said. “Don't just sit there and get steamrolled (by the situation).”

Mr Lally spoke before a GEA Business Luncheon at the Gladstone Entertainment Centre yesterday. He told the audience there were some key strategies that a region like Gladstone needs if it is to cope with the rapid expansion coming with the LNG boom. He said Karratha had been caught unprepared as the boom began in that region, leading to huge problems of housing and infrastructure.

“I can't provide you with a MasterChef-style list of what to do,” he said. “But I want to share with you how not to do it. Karratha is an example of what goes wrong if you are not ready.”

He said the past three years had seen a change in strategy from his shire, which was leading to improvements.

Mr Lally, who also visited Gladstone last year, said he sees better preparedness in this region than in Karratha 10 years ago.

“There is some really good stuff that you've put into place here, including strategic planning, but the thing you've really got to address is the community amenities in the town.

“There should be some kind of financial, community benefit whereby there would be significant dollars given to the council to invest in the town's infrastructure.”

“(In a resources boom), unless you take the community along with you, the community will be devastated.”

Karratha

Population 19,767 (including more than 10,000 fly-in, fly-out workers)

The average wage is 54% higher than national average.

Housing prices rose by 23% per annum from 2005-2010.

Rent is four times the national average.

72% of houses are owned by people outside the region.