The timing of these type of events is always difficult and likely to clash with something else.

In this case it was the innovation summit in Cloncurry which I would have liked to attend but it was simply not possible.

There was also the danger the two-day visit might have to be postponed given the ongoing fire crisis in the south-east.

As it was, the Premier was only delayed by 12 hours arriving Monday morning instead of Sunday evening and leaving Emergency Services minister Craig Crawford in Brisbane to keep an eye on conditions in the fires while the police minister Mark Ryan's wife has just had a baby.

But the Premier was here as was the Deputy Premier and 13 other ministers in almost all the other important portfolios.

On Monday the team held a cabinet meeting in the council chambers and later took individual meetings with their directors-general before reuniting at the Irish Club for the community reception where the Premier handed a framed print of Mount Isa taken in 1932 to the Mayor.

A highlight of the day was the announcement of a new $14.5m drone facility in Cloncurry.

There were announcements on Tuesday too at the North West Minerals Province summit, with $13.8m to encourage exploration to find new deposits for the minerals needed for advanced electronics and renewable technologies, such as cobalt and rare earth minerals, and $5m to the economic diversification strategy implementation plan to look beyond mining activities for the region towards agriculture, tourism, and business and industry.

There was also a $110 million Supply Chain Strategy to improve freight handling and efficiency on the Mount Isa to Townsville rail line with $80m of that to go to encourage freight users to use the railway instead of the road and the other $30m to link the Port of Townsville to Stuart station on the edge of Townsville.

The Premier didn't address all questions on the issues we face but as two day's work go this was a fine start. Derek Barry