General Business - March 26 2025 Ordinary Meeting

Published on 27 March 2025

Cr Dan Ballard

There’s been a lot that’s happened in the last month. It’s hard to believe it’s been 12 months since the Local Government elections.

One such achievement that I wanted to highlight for me was the development of the Strategic Fleet Management Committee, which is due to have its first meeting on Friday, March 28. Councillor Tully and I are both on that with the hope of perhaps driving some improvements in that area.

As we all know, the copper mine is due to close this year, which means that we’ve got some tough times ahead.

But I genuinely and sincerely believe that with adversity comes opportunity, and I think Western Queensland breeds a very special sort of person. So if anybody’s going to have the grit and guts to get through it, I’m sure it’s our Mount Isa community.

We recently had the opportunity to tour the Brilliant Street units. I need to put my hand up and say that I was an opponent of that development at the time.

Having had the benefit of seeing the finished product and what that’s done for the streetscape, I think it’s generally a really good thing, and I look forward to the government bringing some much-needed skills in via those units. It was quite something to see.

Everyone that’s spent any amount of time in Western Queensland would understand that race meetings are an intrinsic part of our social fabric.

I think, for me, that was really underscored at the St Patrick’s Day race meeting, when we had nearly 800 people turn out to enjoy a great afternoon of entertainment. I burnt a couple of sausages for Amy Kuhne, as part of her fundraising efforts for the Zonta Rodeo Queen Quest, so apologies to anyone that was the recipient of one of those.

We had the International Women’s Day event at the Civic Centre earlier this month. It was a wonderful night, the band was amazing, and it was a real credit to the organising committee and the staff of the Civic Centre.

Cr John Doyle

I still can’t believe I’m here as a Councillor. Twelve months in, I’ve seen some good stuff happening, with the Pathways College coming about.

In my opinion, from what I’ve seen and working with them, it’s been a big success. It’s probably one of the first schools of its type where I’ve seen kids actively wanting to get there.

If kids miss the bus, they’re actually getting up and walking to the Pathways College, which is a big thing. So congratulations to them.

We got a thing coming soon called MHIPS – Mental Health and Primary Skills. I’ve been doing a bit of work with the Education Precinct and others to try and get some intensive support for Year 3 to Year 5, and then get them ready for Year 6 and then onwards into high school.

The JT Academy’s still running, so there are a lot of different programs and academies out and about in our community.

There are a lot of things that our kids, our youth, can get engaged in and try and make better decisions and more positive choices for our community and our society, so I’m pretty happy about all of those things.

We’ve got Carmody, who’s now our Youth Strategic Officer, putting a passport together for all of the services, providers and programs. So if you’re not sure what’s available, you can reach out and get the information there.

I’m just happy and proud to be a part of the Council and trying to improve our community.

We’ve got Youth Week coming up as well, in the first week of the school holidays. It’s about five days’ worth of events, at places like Splashez Aquatic Centre, the Civic Centre and the PCYC.

I’ll be running a few things during Youth Week and having a bit of a laugh and a bit of fun as well with the kids.

So get down to Youth Week and just participate, be involved, and enjoy as much as you can.

Cr Travis Crowther

It’s been a busy year and I think it’s been a steep learning curve for everyone.

I’d like to thank Council CEO Tim Rose and the whole team for fielding a lot of our questions and being accommodating to our needs.

I’m sure, with all of the different personalities, all the different questions coming in can be a headache at times, but it’s good.

Obviously, we’re all keen to learn and to do better for Mount Isa. I think that first year has already shown what we’ve been able to achieve, when we look at the final package that we did from the six pillars.

We inherited the six pillars from the previous Council, but then to deliver it into that package that we presented just recently – the Future Ready Economy Roadmap – was great to see.

All the support from the different people in there, and going to different events and seeing those different events and how they need the help of both Council plus the public, it’s always good to see.

The Zonta International Women’s Day event, I sponsored that as well as attended the event. They do a great job and they do a lot of work for the women in Mount Isa and in the region. But especially that team in Mount Isa, when you look at the dedicated members they have there, they’re great volunteers and they put their heart and soul into that.

I’m looking forward to the next year ahead.

Cr James Coghlan

The last 12 months have been really hard. When people ask me if I’m enjoying Council, I say, “Oh no, actually I hate it.”

I get really stressed about things. I take things to heart, and I get emotional about things.

It’s hard being part of an organisation where you can’t really get hands-on and do anything. That’s something that is foreign to me. I like to get in and work – that’s how I get my enjoyment.

Selling the batch plant – we used to operate it at a profit, but it’s been in a slow decline over the past four years.

Management’s pointed to various reasons for its weakening performance, including claims that councils can’t run businesses. But previously the plant was operated at a profit.

The batch plant and the equipment and products have been used by other departments without recompense, and we’ve been asking for six months what on-costs other departments would incur if the batch plant was sold, and we received the first report on this two days ago.

As part of the Audit and Risk Management Committee, Councillor Ballard and I have seen the issues with the batch plant laid bare.

A major concern has been whether these issues have negatively affected other areas of the Council, and I believe they have.

One of the major problems with the batch plant has been the lack of oversight by those responsible for it. When questioned, no one takes responsibility. Additionally, those charged with keeping them accountable have not fulfilled their responsibilities.

For any great team, business, department or individual, accountability is at the core of their being and dictates the culture they operate by.

The lack of accountability is widespread, and we see examples of small discretions labelled trivial, with no action taken. These ignored trivial matters eat away at culture.

Until there is a change in attitude at the top, our Council won’t improve.

I have given credit where it’s due regarding the Economic Roadmap and future endeavours of the Council in attracting industry and investment. What has been done needs to be applauded and recognised. However, all of that depends on private enterprise and other entities, which we can try to influence, but we have no control over.

We do have control over the operations of the Council. As we discover more through questions, budgets and policies, it seems there’s a need for greater oversight and accountability, and for me that should be a focus for the chamber.

The past year has shown me how limited we are at affecting change in operations. However, I believe we need to do everything we can to ensure everybody, including us, is held accountable to the highest standards, regardless of how small or large the matter is.

I’m proud to be part of this city and I’m proud to be part of this Council and trying to make it a great city, because it made me who I am and it made a lot of us who we are as people.

Deputy Mayor Kim Coghlan

I’d just like to say congratulations to everyone that took part in the Mental Health Day they had at the Barkly Hotel on Saturday.

I know it was very well received, I know the Mayor popped along and a lot of people did attend. A big congratulations to all of those involved.

To all of the sporting organisations in town and the community groups, we’re starting up again for another year. Good luck for the season.

I know we all start off like Phar Lap running out of the gates, but by the end of it or midway through we’re a little bit waylaid. But keep going, because many people in the community really appreciate what they all do.

The Fourth Avenue walkway that has been done around Captain Cook Park – we are looking at fixing the little bit of gap between the walkway and the park. So that will be done at a later date, but it’s definitely getting done.

On a very sad note, I’d just like to send our condolences to the McElligott family on the death of Wayne McElligott, known in Mount Isa as “Snake”. He fought a long and hard battle for five years and succumbed during the week.

The McElligotts are a family that have been very involved in rugby league for many years, in coaching, playing, and administration, and I’d just like to say our condolences to the family on Snake’s passing.

Cr John Tully

An update of the Disaster Management meeting we had recently. Most townships seem to be in total control of what they’re doing. Mount Isa has only had roughly 100mm of rain, so we’ve been pretty well protected.

Andrew from Main Roads in Cloncurry seems to think that the road across the towns down that side may be available for food and fuel to come in from Mount Isa, because Mount Isa is probably the capital of looking after the shire of Boulia, with food and fuel, flying those resources into their townships.

But the road from Boulia going to Winton is out, the Diamantina River is up, the Hamilton River’s up. The Georgina River, they may be a bit lucky because there hasn’t been big rain in the Georgina up this side of it, it seems to be more local, so they may get a bit of a spare day to be able to get out of there to get food in.

But if King Creek comes up, which is a part of the Hamilton, it could be out for quite a while – Bedourie and Birdsville are isolated at this stage as well.