Australian mining boom leaves workers rich, but homeless

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

DAMPIER, Australia (AFP) — Wharfie Tony 'Turtle' Hampson lives the Australian working man's dream -- plenty of work, plenty of beer and a fat weekly paycheck which allows him to spend months of each year travelling. Yet despite earning 1,700 dollars (1,600 US) a week in Dampier, a Western Australian port town central to the state's mining boom, Hampson cannot afford to rent a room, let alone a house, anywhere near his workplace.

Instead, he pays 300 dollars a week to an accommodating friend who lets him live in a tent in his driveway and use the bathroom in the house.

"You can't get places to live here, and we have to pay what they ask," Hampson tells AFP as he enjoys a beer after a long day of loading and offloading supplies on boats.

"You come home with...