The Senate Inquiry into airfares should be held in Mount Isa as well as Cloncurry, the Mount Isa branch of the Australian Labor Party has said.
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The branch has congratulated the initiative of the Mayor of Cloncurry in securing the inquiry but has questioned why the Mount Isa City Council and Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter “were missing in action” in getting the Committee to have a hearing in Mount Isa.
ALP branch spokesperson Danielle Slade said she contacted the office of Senator Barry O’Sullivan, the chairperson of the committee, but could not found out why Mount Isa was not selected as a hearing venue nor why they picked dates in the middle of the school holidays, during the Commonwealth Games and with Mount Isa Mines going through it’s biggest shutdown in four years.
“It makes no sense at all. It just tells me that they haven’t talked to anyone from Mount Isa,” Ms Slade said.
“It is crazy this Senate Committee together with federal public servants will be travelling at great cost to the taxpayer to Mount Isa on their way to Cloncurry, but not host a hearing here.”
Ms Slade said the committee were committed to hearings in Longreach, Winton and Cloncurry and have completely skipped Mount Isa.
“Isa has a population of over 20,000 people which is the only city out of all those selected that have flights direct to Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns and also have milk runs that depart from the city going up to the Gulf and as far south as Birdsville,” she said.
“If Senator O’Sullivan thinks that the issue is closed, he doesn’t understand how angry we all are. We intend to make contact with other members of this Senate Committee and even at this late stage try to convince them to make themselves available to the people of Mount Isa.”
Ms Slade said if that failed they would look at other avenues of attack, perhaps organising a own public meeting in Mount Isa the day prior and possibly organising a convoy of cars with interested people to travel to Cloncurry and make their views known.
“It’s a no brainer, the hearing needs to be held in Mount Isa as well” she said.
The ALP has also called on Federal Member Bob Katter to reveal if he has made a public submission to the inquiry.
The inquiry is scheduled for 9 am on Thursday, April 12 in Cloncurry.
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.
