It is a complaint a Mount Isan has seen countless times on social media. 

And if you were living in Brisbane it would cost $500 more to fly a return-trip to Los Angeles than a return ticket to Mount Isa. Minister for North Queensland Coralee O’Rourke said she would “follow it up” when she was asked what the state government could do to encourage plane companies to reduce airfares. 

She was unsure if prices were expensive because of “tyranny of distance” or because Mount Isa was a mining community. 

“I know the cost of produce up north is incredibly more expensive than it is in a metropolitan or coastal city,” Mrs O’Rourke said. 

“Unfortunately it’s the fact of the tyranny of distance we have in Queensland. 

“The further you get out the more expensive everything becomes.” 

The federal government’s White Paper on Developing Northern Australia released last Friday did not address costs of air fares from the coast.

It did acknowledge household and business costs in Northern Australia were “much higher than they should be” compared to the rest of Australia and other developed economies. 

“High business costs discourage investment, while high living costs can discourage settling in the north,” the paper said. 

Facebook user Leann O’Keeffe said on the Mount Isa Vent Page that it cost $1040 one way to Brisbane so she and her husband could visit a dying relative. 

“Airlines should be ashamed of themselves, yet I saw specials from Melbourne to Darwin for $109 each way,” she said. 

Phil Taylor said he refused to pay expensive plane flights when responding to Mrs O’Keeffe’s complaint. 

“I won’t fly out of this place and pay those prices so people on the coast can have cheap fares up and down the eastern seaboard. 

“I will drive two days to Brisbane and the same back.’’