It’s great to be back in North West Queensland after three weeks on the road.
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After a short visit to Brisbane I then flew back to Mount Isa and hopped in the car for a Never Never adventure checking out Darwin and Katherine Gorge for the first time before heading south to catch up with a friend in Alice Springs and check out the incredible ancient beauty of Kings Canyon, Uluru and Kata Tjuta.
It was wonderful and unforgettable experience though the only thing I’d do differently again would be to go to the cold of the Red Centre first before basking in the heat of the Top End!
I thank Kelly Butterworth of the Queensland Country Life for managing the team in my absence, she did a fantastic job ably assisted by Lydia and Melissa who both stepped up to manage the workload while I was away.
I must admit it was hard to get back on the job on the first day especially with eleventy gazillion emails to catch up on but as the week progressed there was plenty going on to quickly focus my attention.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited Boulia as part of his so-called “listening tour”.
It’s a good idea and a wonderful boost for Boulia but it would have been nice if Mr Turnbull had also found the time to divert 300km and visit the largest town in Western Queensland and powerhouse of the Queensland and Australian economy – Mount Isa.
If listening is really his goal he would have found plenty of people to talk to him about a different set of issues especially around the problem of how to keep one of Australia’s few genuine outback cities alive and vibrant into the coming decades and beyond.
Mount Isa did have a Queensland minister in town, health minister Steven Miles.
Mr Miles was here to formally open the Mount Isa helipad (see Tuesday’s paper for more details) and also announce that Julia Creek would get a new $8.4m hospital to be opened in the next 12 months.
It was a good week for Julia Creek with the re-opening of the airport and its new all-weather runway. No wonder McKinlay Mayor Belinda Murphy had a big smile on her face this week – a great double investment in her community – Derek Barry
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.
