By Campbell Gellie

August 16, 2017 - In Australia, Bowen Basin mining giants are in the midst of a production boom, but the companies that service them are waiting up to six months for their invoices to be paid.

This is forcing some Mackay businesses to seek bridging loans to pay their staff and suppliers as they meet the extra demand from the mining giants who are stalling payments.

Member for Dawson George Christensen said the problem was becoming worse, with some companies simply choosing not to pay.

And if the companies don't clean up their act, Mr. Christensen plans on forcing them to do so.

"Mining companies might have their shareholders ... the Australian Government has their shareholders, called the Australia public. If they keep ticking off the Australian public then government will come in and act,” he said.

The mining companies needed to learn from their mistakes, Mr. Christensen said, as governments had stepped in to curtail FIFO workers and 457 workers to please the public.

Now, he said, the companies should pay their suppliers on time.

"If mining companies doesn't like something in your invoice, or they just don't want to pay, they say they have a problem and they don't pay it,” he said.

"Some businesses are going three to four months and some up to half-a-year without being paid.”

And it is not an isolated case, a Resource Industry Network survey earlier this year found a "significant number” of respondents had 75%-100% of their revenue on extended trading terms.

The survey found that almost half had to source bridging financing to soften the effect of the extended trading terms and almost three-quarters felt the extended trading terms had an effect on their ability to deliver goods and services.

The vast majority of small to medium businesses that did not fit into the Local Buy programs were dealing with payment terms well in excess of the 60 days period, the survey found, and many reported waiting over 100 days to be paid.

"These small to medium businesses need to pay staff in 7 days, pay for supplies, parts, and overheads all within 30 days,” RIN deputy chair David Hartigan said.

"At a time when our industry is under attack from anti-coal activists, it's important that we all work together to highlight how much the industry contributes to the economy, and society at large.

"It's hard to show a united industry when the mining houses aren't willing to bring supplier payment terms back to a fair and reasonable time-frame now that market conditions have improved.”

While mining companies already have a payment term systems in place, Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said it was a commercial issue for each company to address and was best dealt with through company specific plans.