The year 2018 is fast coming to an end and over these last few editorials we will look back on some of the biggest stories the North West Star reported on during the year.
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Without a doubt the biggest ongoing story has been high cost of flights to our region and the saga of the federal senate inquiry called to look into the matter.
The North West had its opportunity to give testimony to the inquiry in an official hearing in Cloncurry and an unofficial one in Mount Isa both on the same day in April.
We heard how the issue was one of day-to-day affordability while advocate Hamish Griffin spoke about the airine cartel A4ANZ and the dynamic pricing model used by the industry meaning that when Cloncurry flooded and road closed, prices went sky high.
Mount Isa City Council spoke about the economic impacts and said the 2017 Triple J One Night Stand crowd was well done on expected numbers due to high airfare costs to get to Mount Isa from the coast.
We heard stories from people who spent $20,000 and more visiting ill relatives or bringing children to coastal sporting contests.
There was a promise from committee co-chair Barry O’Sullivan that the airlines would front the committee later this year – a promise that has not been kept.
Worse still the inquiry itself has been delayed now to June 27, 2019 putting it past the election date.
The North West Star has called on local candidates to support the continuation of the inquiry if elected.
So far only Labor candidate Brett McGuire has responded.
Mr McGuire said the delay showed how dysfunctional Morrison LNP government was. “Price gouging is just another way to drive home the isolation that Mount Isa feels compared to the rest of Australia,” Mr McGuire said. We are the power house of the Australian economy and deserve better.”
We will publish other responses as we get them. In the meantime we all need to work together to keep the pressure up to ensure the Inquiry has a proper conclusion and that North West Queensland does not pay the price for the greed of the airlines. – 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.
