During the budget announcement, Cr McGrady blamed the governments for not understanding Mount Isa’s water crisis.

The decisions in both state and federal budgets have also negatively affected the outcomes of the budget.

Cr McGrady agreed it was easy to blame other people for the crisis.

“Having stated that, I do feel a sense of betrayal from both our state and federal governments,”  he said.

“At a time when they were talking up their drought relief packages, offering drought relief across the state and the nation, they refuse to understand that the financial predicament which we find ourselves in is a direct result of the drought.”

He urged the two governments to work together and allocate $3.2 million to negate the need of a utility charge.

Cr McGrady reminded the community that the council had sought aid from federal Treasurer Joe Hockey, Premier Campbell Newman, and state Energy and Water Supply Minister Mark McArdle, among other government representatives.

“And despite numerous telephone calls we can’t even get a response to our request for financial assistance to help us with our problem,” the Mayor said.

Cr McGrady said two state ministers displayed a “complete lack of sympathy and understanding” on the issue.

But he would not confirm if he was talking about Mr McArdle and State Development Minister Jeff Seeney, who both have spoken publicly about the water issue.

Cr McGrady did express disappointment in the Royalties for the Regions scheme, which he said was a sham.

“To demonstrate the unfairness of this scheme, we see this premier mining community of Queensland receiving a pittance of $500,000 for a $14.7 million water conservation project after being told by senior officers of the department that our application ticks all boxes.” 

Cr McGrady hopes the Premier will show more support after it was reported that Mr Newman would change his stance on key issues that his government stood for.