Deputy Mayor Phil Barwick

Cr Barwick

"It very pleasing that Mount Isa City Council remains in a very strong financial position, and I want to now focus on the transformational change necessary to reducing our energy costs sustainably as we approach the nation's net-zero targets within the coming years."

Email: crbarwick@mountisa.qld.gov.au Mobile: 0403 404 469

Register of Interests of Councillor

Portfolio: Finance, Customer Services, Economic Development, Promotion & Community Development, Arts (including RADF)

City Council Appointments

  • Chair – Australian Mining Cities Alliance Ltd (AMCA)
  • Chair – Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF)
  • Chair (Interim) – Mount Isa City Council Owned Enterprises (MICCOE)
  • Chair – MICC Motor Sports Park Advisory Committee
  • Member – Northwest Region Organisation of Councils (NWROC)
  • Member – MICC internal Audit and Risk Committee

Regional Appointments

  • Chair North and West Remote Health Ltd
  • Chair Community Advisory Group North West Hospital and Health Service

Achievements for Mount Isa City

  • Mount Isa Multipurpose Recreation Centre – Sunset Basketball Stadium
  • Raised funds from State and Federal Government and engaged with Mount Isa City Council for in-kind support to project manage the construction of the popular Sunset Basketball Stadium opened in 2001
  • Mount Isa Rodeo Stadium. Member of Mount Isa City Council construction committee for the 2007 construction of the awarding winning Kalkadoon Rodeo Arena and Glencore Entertainment Centre at Buchannan Park

Achievements while Deputy Mayor for Mount Isa City

  • Splashez Aquatic Centre Renewal
  • Isa Street Bridge construction
  • George McCoy RV park construction
  • Frank Aston RV Park construction
  • Family Fun Park Precinct development
  • Family Fun Park construction and Renewal
  • Skate Park Renewal
  • Pump Track Gallipoli Park construction
  • Waste Management Facility construction and upgrades
  • Animal Management Facility Construction and Upgrades
  • Smart Water Meters installed to all homes and businesses
  • Lake Moondarra Road 10km Bike Track
  • Sunset Oval Floodlighting
  • Captain Cook Park Floodlighting
  • Riversleigh Fossils Centre Upgrade
  • Centennial Place Construction
  • Strong financial position during both terms – including nil borrowings
  • City art – Carrandotta Horses public art; Lookout water tank murals; Fun Park mural; Progress and Prosper train street art (Railway Avenue); Markham Valley Road interpretive walk

Achievements for Committed projects due for completion from 2024

  • Renewable energy solar plants to all Council facilities for energy cost reduction
  • Renewing electrical plant and lighting for energy cost reduction to Council facilities
  • Modernising the information Technology Systems throughout Council operations to reduce costs through efficiency
  • Materials Recycling facility construction at the tip
  • Yellow Top Bins for recycling to all residences
  • Motor Sports facility, Lake Moondarra Road – land secured; design work completed
  • Arterial Road for Healy Heights to Duchess Road – Detailed Design
  • Gliderport subdivision of 100 blocks for housing – Detailed Design
  • Telstra Hill walkway and parking area upgrade – Detailed Design

 

Councillor Bio

Cr Barwick has extensive experience in a leadership role in the community, commercial, and Local Government sectors in North West and Central West Queensland and at a national level.

He holds formal tertiary qualifications in management including a postgraduate diploma in Community Sector Management, a Post Graduate Certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He was elected to Mount Isa City Council (MICC) in 2016 and again in 2020 and has served the consecutive terms as Deputy Mayor. He is also a member of the MICC internal finance and audit committee.

Since 2012 he remains as Chairperson of North and West Remote Health Ltd (formerly a Medicare Local). He also holds many voluntary chairs jobs on various boards and committees all aimed at improving the city services and infrastructure.

In 2019, he was appointed as Chair of the Community Advisory Group for North West Hospital and Health Service (NWHHS).

He is also a director and current Chair of the Mount Isa City Council Owned Enterprises Pty Ltd that operates the iconic Outback at Isa tourist facility, the Hard Times underground tourist mine, the Riversleigh Fossil Discovery Centre, Outback Park Indigenous bush tucker and Aboriginal cooking tours, and Mining Museum.

He is the Council-appointed Chair of the Australian Mining Cities Alliance Ltd (AMCA). Before his appointment as Chair of AMCA he was a member director of AMCA for 2 years.

Mr Barwick has previously held board and chair positions for a nationally significant employment services company, city council statutory companies, and other not-for-profit companies.

In earlier times during the '70s, before being an elected member, he became a qualified electrician, and then owned and operated an electrical contracting company during the 1980s and early 1990s providing services to the residents, business, government, and industry in Mount Isa and the greater North West.

He sold the company in 1992 and moved into the community sector as CEO of Mount Isa Skills Association, delivering community, social, employment and training programs and projects, again across this fabulous North West region. During this period, he was an elected executive director of the Sydney-based national employment company Job Futures Ltd from 2007 to 2009. He managed and delivered hundreds of community projects during this time and many of these are still relevant today as sporting groups, local councils, and community groups still benefit from their additional infrastructure. In 2014 he become qualified in design and construction of solar energy systems.

Mount Isa has been home for Cr Barwick since arriving as a youngster in the late 1960s and he has loved the city, the people, and the district ever since.

He met and married Catrina here in Mount Isa in the late '70s and they had four children. and six grandchildren. After being widowed since 2018 he remarried to Heidi in June of 2023.

In 2006 he was honoured with the Mount Isa Citizen of the Year for services to the Mount Isa community.