By Melissa Coleman
Acciona McIntyre wind farm workers based at the Coolmunda Caravan Park have been relocated out of the region to a motel in Toowoomba after the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) declared the park accommodation to be ‘unworthy’.
The owner of the caravan park, Troy Herbert, said the union moved the 30 workers staying at the park to accommodation more than two hours away from the work site.
“It’s beyond belief,” he said.
Fifteen tiny homes and 15 luxury caravans were built in July to accommodate the workers, however their stay lasted only one month.
Troy said the union came out and asked for a lot of different tests to be done.
“I obliged and had a water test done, which cost me $850, and it’s the best results ever seen in the Goondiwindi region; not one thing wrong with my water here,” Mr Herbert said.
The wind farm workers had been buying locally and bringing money into the region by purchasing groceries and other supplies in the small town of Inglewood.
“I know it’s not a lot, but every little bit still helps. The guys were happy to stay here,” he said.
“We still have two workers residing on the premises, but they’ve been asked to leave, and they don’t want to.”
Coolmunda Caravan Park manoeuvred holiday and tourist bookings to accommodate the workers; however, now that the men have moved on, the park is losing money.
“It’s a shame, we’ve refused bookings because they were here, and now they’re not. Our business is suffering.”
“We only have six available sites for our busiest time of the year, and as you can imagine, they are already booked out.”
Troy believes the bottom line is ‘they want their workers to have an extra four hours a day travel allowance’.
“It’s a two-hour bus drive each way for the men now, but when they were residing here, it would only take them 20 minutes to get to the site.”
The ETU said it has no comment at this time.
