The clinic will be used for the benefit of indigenous residents living in the nearby suburb of Pioneer.  

Cameron Dick made the funding announcement while visiting the existing Gidgee Healing health clinic in Burke Street, near the Mount Isa Hospital. 

The government will fund $770,000 for the installation of the new clinic, and committed another $1.9 million over three years for its operation, Mr Dick said. 

“According to the 2011 Census, about 60 per cent of Mount Isa’s nearly 3100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander residents live in and around Pioneer, so we know this new clinic will help improve the community’s access to health services,” he said. The refurbishment of the clinic in the former IGA building should be completed in late 2017. 

Gidgee Healing chair Shaun Solomon said the clinic will improve access to the majority of the local indigenous population.

Feedback from Pioneer residents suggested lack of public transport and access to the current clinic.