The increase of homeless visitors that remain in Mount Isa after the show and the rodeo was a drain on the city’s resources.

“We have not got the police, we have not got the resources,” Cr Seymour said.

“These people are homeless, they come from the Territory but they need to go back, the resources are there to cater for them.

“It is bullshit that they can camp wherever.”

The riverbed campers trashed the Leichhardt River in Mount Isa with alcohol bottles, damaged cars, clothing and faeces.

Their shouts could be heard from residents in town.

Cr Anne Seymour said the Mount Isa City Council was limited to what it could do to remove riverbed campers because the Leichhardt River was controlled by the State Government.

 Groups like the State Government, city council and police needed to work together to solve the issue.

“It has got to be a pretty forceful, no pussy footing around,” she said. 

Kalkadoon Community Pty chairperson Virginia Mayo said making campers return to the communities they came from was “idealistic”.

“We may be able to return them home but who is going to pay for it is the question,” Ms Mayo said.

“You do not just take them over the border and drop them off and leave them there, we need to ensure support and assistance is provided for them in the way of social programs.”

The Federal Government used to fund costs of returning Aborigines to their homelands but had been cut by the Abbott government.

 “We no longer have such accessibility to funding to return people to their country,” Ms Mayo said.