General Business - April 30 2025 Ordinary Meeting

Published on 02 May 2025

Councillor Dan Ballard

We’re approaching that time of the year where the North West really comes alive with a lot of events, and the beauty of our landscape is on full display – particularly with a really generous late Wet Season, everything’s looking great.

I’d like to congratulate Mark Thompson and his supporting committee on the Great Northern Rodeo Series Rodeo that they held earlier in April. I thought that was a great success. The car park was chock-a-block.

I think it’s a great credit to Mark and his committee of helpers that it was so well supported. It gives me a lot of hope that, come August, we’re going to see a new chapter come for the Mount Isa Rodeo – and it couldn’t be in better hands, in my opinion.

The Anzac Day services were really well supported. It’s one of the most touching things that I get to participate in each year. The weather’s beautiful, and to see the sun just beginning to crack as The Last Post is played from the balcony of the Civic Centre – if that doesn’t move you, then not much will.

It’s great to see the development on Marian Street going along full steam ahead. I think we can focus on some of the bad news stories around the place, but if we pause and take stock of the amount of money that’s been invested in our town over the last couple of years, there’s some really good markers that we’ve got a healthy future ahead of us.

And while the future definitely looks different to the past, I think that Mount Isa has a lot to look forward to.

Councillor John Doyle

It’s good to see that there are so many different activities, events and people getting some money to actually create some activity and time for our community, our kids, our youth and so on.

It’s important that we create and enable environments of positivity. I always say, every time I do something with kids – don’t create or enable an environment you wouldn’t put your own kid in. So if you know it’s a horrible environment, change it and create a positive one.

Being a volunteer in the community for a long time now, it’s really good now to see a lot of positivity coming through and a lot of programs starting to get the right idea of creating those environments.

And remember, some of these kids need friends, but also some of them don’t need friends – they need mentors and role models, people to help teach them responsibility and respect.

So it’s starting to come that way now and I’m really proud of our community for getting on board and supporting our people.

Councillor Travis Crowther

I didn’t get to attend the Anzac Day services here in Mount Isa, but I was fortunate enough to be up in Gregory Downs. I’d like to give a shout out to the team that held that service up there. I think there was more than 70 people there, and the sun was coming up as they were playing The Last Post on the violin, which was a different rendition, but it was still extremely moving.

It was good to see that the Anzac spirit's alive, not just in one place, but it’s all over the country. I think you’re seeing more and more youth coming in to really acknowledge the services of those men and women.

We’ve got the lift running now up at Outback at Isa, so for those people that want to get up and see the upstairs displays that are always up there – there are some paintings and all that there now – they can actually use that lift and go upstairs without having to worry about the stairs, which is great. I don’t think it’s been operating for about six to seven years, so to have that up and running – and for fairly cheap in the end – is great. We utilised the same guys that are doing the work on the Civic Centre lift, so that was good to see.

For all the businesses in town, North West MPX is a great opportunity to hear what’s happening around the city and in the region, to make sure they get down there and participate where they can, especially with the Regional Jobs Expo aligned in with it. We’ll see some good things happening and some opportunities for the youth as well, to get into those mining and other regional jobs.

Councillor John Tully

The Mayor and I attended both the Dawn Service and the Main Service and they were both unbelievable – to see the kids all marching, I thought they were exceptionally well presented, with their numbers coming from all the schools.

I’d also like to give a big thank you to the bugle player who’s done a great job for such a long time, Keith Cox. I’d like to thank him for what he’s done for the ceremony over the years, and the best of luck in his future endeavours.

We’ve got to keep our foot on the fire breaks again, because this year is going to be exceptional. So as soon as it dries out, I think we’ve got to really keep our foot on it. There’s no use waiting until the first fire turns up, because it could be a lot worse than what people think is going to happen.

I’d love to see the garden beds in the CBD – some have still got nothing in them, and I’d just like to see something happening there going forward. It’s been a long time. Just getting some native plants in there is better than having nothing there.

Councillor James Coghlan

I’d just like to thank and congratulate the Camooweal community for their Anzac Day Dawn Service. One hundred people turned up. It was excellent to be there, and while it was a short service, it just highlighted there’s a great community spirit there.

I encourage any of the people at Camooweal to contact Councillors if you need help and assistance with events.

Good luck with the Camooweal Campdraft later this month. They were preparing for that event when I was out there for Anzac Day.

I know it’s not within our boundary, but the Gregory River Canoe Marathon is on this weekend (May 4). It brings a lot of people to Mount Isa, and there are a lot of canoes around the place, because it hasn’t been held for the last two years.

But it’s certainly an event that’s known throughout Australia within the canoeing community, and a lot of Mount Isa people will go up there for the weekend, so I wish them all the best with that.

The Mount Isa Eisteddfod is coming up shortly. It’s run by volunteers and is just a fantastic event for showcasing the talent we’ve got in this town.

And the St Kieran’s Mother’s Day Fete will be on Friday May 9, so I wish St Kieran’s all the best for their fete. I think there are only two schools that have fetes now – it used to be every school, but volunteers just can’t do it – so get out and support it.

And of course the Mother’s Day Races are coming up too. I believe they’ve got a very special emcee for the event, so it could be well worth your money.