North West Queensland Regional Organisation of Councils has welcomed new mayors and a new agenda, addressing the Great Artesian Basin and allocation for remaining 2019 flood funding.
North West Queensland mayors gathered in Cloncurry on May 8-9, for its first meeting since the Local Government Election in April.
A warm welcome was extended to incoming mayors Peta McRae of Mount Isa City Council, Janene Fegan of McKinlay Shire Council, and Kate Peddle of Flinders Shire Council; with NWQROC Chair Jack Bawden stating they would be valuable assets to NWQROC.
"It won't take them long to get their feet under the table, Kate is new to the group, Peta is pretty settled and Janene is a new-old mayor she has been the ROC representative forever so she wasn't a new face."
Two major items were discussed at the meeting, including remaining 2019 flood assistance funding.
In 2019 north west Queensland was hit by a slow moving monsoonal trough that resulted in catastrophic stock losses, totalling to 504,479 head.
Cr Bawden said there was still funding remaining and NWQROC had to decide what to assign the funds too.
"It works out to about $4.5million for each council ($49.5 million in total)," Cr Bawden said.
"Queensland Reconstruction Authority are keen to see us pool our resources and get a big project in common, rather than 11 small ones.
"It is really hard to get big projects happening nowadays. So as an example, the Gulf shires, Doomadgee, Burketown, Carpentaria and Etheridge they're all keen to do something with the Gilbert River Bridge.
"It is yet to be decided on and something like the bridge should be a state issue, but unless we step up and contribute a reasonable amount, about $18 million, surely to God we can get them to rethink their return on investment by fixing it.
"It should have been programmed into their works years before now, but it seems like we are going to have to lay the bait to get them to commit to adding to the funding to complete it."
How the funds will be allocated is still being workshopped, with a final decision to be made before June 30.
Mayors also discussed Glencore's proposal to inject carbon emissions waste into the Great Artesian Basin and how the organisation would continue to reject the proposal.
"The hot topic of discussion was the Great Artesian Basin. There were discussions around if we should be spending money on lobbying against this proposal," Cr Bawden said.
"Our deal is we advocate, and we had a few people who wanted to spend money and some who didn't, so in the end it turned out we would concentrate on advocacy through the media channels.
"We are going to ramp up social media and mainstream media lobbying for the north west, in support of the south west ROC and central Queensland who are also fighting against the decision."
Cr Bawden said NWQROC had issued an objection as had all individual councils.
"We have put in objections to let it be known that we are not happy," he said.
"If they damage the great Artesian Basin they've wrecked a lot of people's lives. It is the lifeblood of central Queensland and you might not think it but it is also important up here.
"There are a lot of stations up here that rely on artesian water. The population may not be high but the income per dollars that is turned over in this country is phenomenal.
"My analogy is that they wouldn't do it to the Great Barrier Reef, so why do it to Australia's largest underground water source?"
NWQROC is also workshopping its election strategy, that Mr Bawden says will go back to basics.
"It isn't finalised yet but it will be about basics; we need dams build, we need water, we need waste, we need power, telecommunications. There is still a big needs list out there that has been patched here and there that needs addressing," Cr Bawden said.
"If CopperString finally makes it, then it will make a big difference to the Flinders Highway communities from Mount Isa to Townsville, but unless they extend it through from Cloncurry up to the Gulf it's going to have no impact up here and we are still going to be needing up here as well.
"So I am lobbying for it to be extended up here to Normanton and across to Cairns, same with the fibre optic, just to close the loop."
Samantha Campbell
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Samantha Campbell (nee Walton) has worked for regional and rural publications across New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory. She is currently writing for the North Queensland Register based in North West Queensland. Email: samantha.campbell@austcommunitymedia.com.au
