Cloncurry Mayor Greg Campbell has hailed the work of his council in a community forum in the town on Thursday.
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Almost a hundred locals packed the Community Precinct to hear the mayor, his councillors and CEO speak in the second six-monthly forum since council elections a year ago.
Cr Campbell said one of his election campaign promises was to maintain and repair infrastructure to an acceptable standard with the dump and sewer mains needing attention.
The Mayor said Council had to urgently change operations at the Cloncurry Landfill to meet environmental obligations set out by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection.
“Audits over the last couple of years hadn’t been taken seriously enough,” Cr Campbell said.
On sewerage the Mayor said they had received $645,000 from the state government to upgrade the Cloncurry Sewage Treatment Plant Upgrade to improve the treatment of effluent and allow for reuse.
Cr Campbell said they had gained $1.4m funding to fix roads and works for Sheaffe Street were progressing to improve drainage, increase the number of carparks and reduce two lanes to one.
Work was also proceeding to continue to put bitumen on the road to the phosphate mine.
“A thousand kilometres from the port of Townsville to the phosphate mine, there is only five kilometres left to seal,” Cr Campbell said.
“We’re working with the state and federal governments to get that last section done. That opens up the southern end of our shire for the beef industry there and further mining.”
He said plans were also in place to fix problems with Dajarra’s water supply.
“There has been a problem with potable water there for some time and this would be a real win,” he said.
Cr Campbell said there were plenty of positive stories around mining in the shire.
“MMG are going well with their construction at Dugald River and they are ahead of schedule,” he said.
“(Glencore’s) Ernest Henry are also hitting all their targets at the moment so that’s really positive.”
Cr Campbell said he hoped the new team in place at Cudeco would steady the ship there.
“There’s a lot of potential they can get over some tough times in the next couple of months,” he said.
The Mayor said local employment was still very high on their agenda.
“We’ve seen a major change in policy recently at MMG who have moved to a dedicated local shift,” he said.
“When I first met them they were saying they were going to be 100 per cent Fly In Fly Outbut the change hasn’t come about because of state government policy but because they accept common sense and what makes sense for the community and their business.”
He said the company was also looking at relocation packages to encourage people to move to town.
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
