General Business - July 23 Ordinary Meeting
Published on 25 July 2025
Councillor Dan Ballard
The year is flying past and it’s hard to believe that we have the Mailman Express and the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo just around the corner.
This year’s edition of the rodeo represents a turning point in the history of our town’s marquee event. And the rodeo has a management committee that’s made up of passionate locals, including Councillor John Tully, and it’s pleasing to see that the event will be a lot more accessible thanks to lower admission fees.
A big congratulations to Zonta and the Rodeo Queen Quest’s entrants. It’s been wonderful to see the groundswell of support around this year’s quest and the volunteering efforts that those Queen Quest entrants have been able to use to the great benefit of local event organisers who are always in need of assistance.
A big thank you to everyone that’s participated in some way during the course of that quest and good luck to all of the entrants. Each one of those ladies would be a very worthy winner.
The Strategic Fleet Management Committee met for the first time since directors Kelvin Tytherleigh and Andrew Hobbs have joined the organisation, and Councillor Tully and I are working with members of the committee to drive improvements in this area of Council.
I guess, with only three weeks since our last Ordinary Meeting, it’s probably a bit lighter than normal, but I’m certainly looking forward to some great events coming up in the near future.
Councillor John Doyle
I can’t wait for the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo and all the events to coming up. All of the Rodeo Queen Quest entrants have done a great job promoting the town and trying to get some [awareness of] the town.
The NAIDOC events were great and well attended. I got to go to a few things I’d never been to before, like the Mount Isa Day Nursery and Kindergarten. They’ve got a really good facility there and some good people in there, and all the parents [that] send their kids there know that they’re well looked after, and it’s a special place. Those kids are having a lot of fun there.
I just can’t wait to get to the rodeo and see how we go this year with the new committee. Some really good people, community-minded people that care about our community, are on board.
Councillor Travis Crowther
Mayor MacRae and I went to the NAIDOC Trivia Night and failed miserably at that one.
With the NAIDOC events, I have to commend them – every event they had on, they made sure we’re all fed well, or all entertained well.
That committee that does all of the organisation, from the flag-raising to the flag-lowering the week later, it’s quite commendable what they got done.
I also got out to Kajabbi and I commend the two ladies that ran the events out at the Kajabbi Yabby Races. It was good to see that they’re spreading the [Queen Quest] events around the community, not just in the city. It’s good that they’re being able to do that and they put on a great show. To Jeff [Bambrick] and the team out there, they handled the extra crowd really well.
I’m also looking forward to the rodeo. It’s always a great time of the year to be in Mount Isa, and with the tourism ramping right up, to see the team at Outback at Isa has been working well with them as well – especially with their conditions, with the [out-of-commission] kitchen, which we hopefully will get started very soon.
Councillor John Tully
I would just like to congratulate Zonta and all of the Rodeo Queen [Quest entrants]. They’ve done an exceptional job this year. I really am proud of what they’ve all achieved.
The biggest one I want to talk about is the local sponsorship that has come to us [the Rodeo Committee] this year, it's next level, unbelievable. The support we have from anyone I ring and ask for support, to have that information to me the next day.
The locals this year [have given] probably the strongest commitment to make this work that I’ve ever seen. I just want to thank every local.
We brought a lower sponsorship deal back to $5000, and I don’t think there’s one business that we approached that didn’t put their name down and support with us with the $5000. Just a big thank you to all the locals in Mount Isa.
Councillor James Coghlan
I just wanted to address the issue of feral cats. So this issue is a nationwide problem and it needs cooperation from every level of government.
It’s at the local level where we have people on the ground but they are not enough. With a collaboration and partnership between federal, state, and local governments, we can begin to tackle a problem that’s become an epidemic and is putting at risk native wildlife and fauna.
Federal and state funding to councils who have more boots on the ground will enable them to put more personnel in place to tackle the issue at the coalface.
Too much money is currently passing to organisations that don’t have the capability to tackle the issue and are coming to councils for assistance. We have the expertise and Council’s the best place to make the difference.
Money does not need to be spent researching to see if we have a problem, as we are dealing with it every day. Richmond Shire has put in place a bounty, but there is nothing to stop people taking in cats caught in other council areas.
Robbie Katter has been pushing for environmentalists to stand up in this area, because feral cats kill around 12% of our birdlife in this country each year.
Bounties are one way, but more workers in councils is a safer option, as it will protect any domesticated pet cats from harm.
At present, if your cat is registered or microchipped, it can be returned if trapped.
One of our biggest problems is feeding of feral cats. There are several areas in Mount Isa where there’s been a proliferation of them due to the availability of food sources from people.
While people who feed feral cats claim by feeding them, they won’t kill and eat wildlife, that’s not accurate.
Our rangers have pictures of cats that have killed a bird and then walked a couple of feet into a trap and taken the bait and been trapped.
Our rangers are best suited to tackle this plague and that’s all it can be called. I recently drove to Brisbane and saw more cats than kangaroos.
The money needs to be directed to removing through shooting, baiting, and trapping, and our local teams have all the expertise and training to do so.
Research into trapping and neutering is a waste of money. We don’t need research to tell us we have a problem and we don’t need people sitting in air-conditioned offices in the city sipping their cafe lattes telling us there is none, or underestimating the scale of the problem.
Neutering cats and releasing them because they are not able to breed does nothing to alleviate the problem. Because though they can’t breed, they still carry disease and threaten native species into extinction.
In the past five years, several species are listed as critically endangered and face a high risk of extinction. It’s time for all levels of government to come together and work to save our native wildlife.
I just wanted to congratulate the Mount Isa Campdraft committee. It was just another wonderful event and run by volunteers.
[To] the whole [Rodeo] committee, I just want to wish you all the best for the rodeo, because the work you’ve done is enormous.
I know how much time you put in during your work hours and outside your work hours. So many disgruntled loyals have come back to the fold – and not just that, but also people from the industry that have been shut out are now back as well at the rodeo, and it’s going to be bigger and better.
I just think you should be congratulated and I hope you get time over the weekend to enjoy the hard work that you’ve done.
Deputy Mayor Kim Coghlan
Big congratulations to the Mount Isa Rodeo Committee. A big thank you to the sponsors and the Rodeo Queen Quest entrants that have worked tirelessly over like 10 months, and also to Zonta for stepping up and running that as well. I wish them all the best for the Rodeo Queen Quest Ball as well as the Mount Isa Mines Rodeo.
The other people I’d like to hope everything goes well is the CNW Mailman Express. That’s run by a very, very small committee of people. They do as the rodeo does – you rely on volunteers. So, I wish them all the best for their night.
To all the people that have reached out to me, just to let them know that Mount Isa City Council are working with the police to get rid of people that are camping in our riverbed and making quite a mess down there.
The thing that people have to do is, when they see something happening in our community, they need to ring Policelink. I know it’s the biggest pain in the butt that you ever have to do, but the police need those figures to be able to get to get more police here.
The Policelink number is 131 444. That’s for anything that you think is suspicious or you want to report something.
But hopefully Council and the police can work on cleaning up our riverbed.