Outspoken MP Bob Katter has spoken at the Queensland Parliamentary Committee FIFO inquiry, calling on mining companies to hire locally.

“We want a restoration of the laws that existed in this state for a good 40 years that said you will base the workforce locally,” he told the hearing in Mackay.

“Now we're not saying you base it at the mine, but if you have a mine outside of Cloncurry then you base the workforce there.”

Katter said many resource-linked regional communities had enough infrastructure to cater for double their population, and could easily support additional workforces.

The Member for Kennedy said each mine’s workforce should be locally sourced, and if workers want to work at a particular mine, they should live in the nearest town.

“If you want a job there, you go there,” he said.

“Our little towns are continuing to die and we're not going to subject our workers to a situation where they have no family life.

“What you work for is to watch your kids grow up. You want to be with them when they grow up and enjoy family life with your wife.

“I mean, what are we working for if you take all those things away.”

Committee chair Jim Pearce told the hearing that lifestyle and mental health issues were top priorities for the inquiry.

“Submissions indicate that mental health is a major concern,” he said.

“There's a lot of people out there that have seriously been impacted on, by the behaviour of mining companies and the way they're overlooking the local people for work.”

The hearings are open to anyone wishing to speak or hear about the issue of FIFO workforces; a full schedule and more details are accessible here.