The local economies in Mount Isa and Cloncurry are still not responding as they should to the resurgence in mining over the last few years. This problem requires some attention from government.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The rising incidence of FIFO is playing a role but can't be the only reason because discussions around the state with colleagues indicate similar problems exist throughout Queensland. There are real and practical opportunities to enhance industry in the North West without costing the government a great deal of money.
These opportunities, however, just need some effort and commitment from the government not more plans and studies.
It's all good to just talk about stimulating industry but government also needs to play a role to ensure that the benefit from mining is realised primarily in the local area and this is mainly through the workers being based locally or at the very least, that local businesses become preferred suppliers.
CopperString represent a generational opportunity to improve the viability of mining in the region by getting access to a much cheaper power supply off the electricity grid.
This will mean marginal operations could now be viable and add many years mine life to operations in the region.
There are many other opportunities to do things better in the North West with better government and this provides me with optimism. Addressing the cost of water and efficiency of rail and flight prices remain still high on the agenda.
The North West has much more reason to get excited about the flow-on effects of CopperString than Townsville does over the stimulus from the Adani coal mine.
To summarise the point: the government has systemic problems across the economy and they need to stimulate it with industry-enabling infrastructure builds.
CopperString requires barely any input from the taxpayer but could highly stimulate industry of all types in our region. Why then wouldn't it be one of the highest priorities in the region at present?
On a personal note my wife, Daisy, and I just recently invested in our home 'to settle in' at Mount Isa. This was a huge investment for us but I believe in the region and know that we can turn things around.
I hope others also see that the fundamentals here are good and that we just need some more work to turn things around, and in turn they too make the same decision to invest in our future.
