Newly named Special Envoy for Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, has pledged to use her position to focus on supply chains - particular within the corridors of growth previously announced by the Morrison Government, regional internet connectivity, new water projects and services that make living in regional centres possible such as child care and aged care.
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Townsville-based Senator McDonald, 51 gained the new role following the Nationals ministerial reshuffle on Sunday after Barnaby Joyce won back the top job in the party - with her support.
"This appointment is a great honour and I'm determined to repay the faith shown in me by the National Party and the people of Queensland," Senator McDonald said.
"Northern Australia produces so much wealth for this country, but it's home to only about 1 million people, so we need strong voices in Canberra to ensure we keep getting funding for the roads, rail, healthcare and internet connectivity enjoyed by those further south."
Senator McDonald said Northern Australia didn't want an advantage merely a level playing field.
"This means our kids having access to STEM teachers, our roads to be navigable in all conditions and our hospitals and businesses to have reliable, fast internet with which to provide services," she said.
"All this makes the North more liveable and will attract young families looking for good-paying, stable work and a terrific lifestyle."
Senator McDonald grew up on her family's Devonport cattle property, 70km south of Cloncurry, daughter of Don and Chris McDonald.
She was educated by Correspondence School and Mount Isa School of the Air before boarding school in Brisbane.
Her first job was cooking for a stock camp and working at Expo '88 in Brisbane before going to the University of Queensland to study accounting with the idea she would go back to the family station to handle the bookkeeping.
But circumstances changed and she ended up in Brisbane where she worked in different businesses as an Accountant before going in as Chief of Staff for Natural Resources and Mines Minister, Andrew Cripps.
Senator McDonald's family had bought a chain of butcher shops in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and she ran them for 6 years before being elected to the Australian Senate for Queensland.
She has three teenage kids.
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She was elected to the Senate in May 2019 after securing the No 2 spot on Queensland's Liberal National Party ticket. She is currently the chairman of the Federal Government's Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport committee.
She will soon conduct a tour of Northern Australia while Parliament is in its winter recess.
"Mining, agriculture, transport, water, health and education are all top priorities that will be speaking to stakeholders about in coming weeks," she said.
"The corridors of growth from Darwin to the Great Australian Bight and the Gulf of Carpentaria to Victoria were identified in 2020, and complement the Tennant Creek to Townsville corridor which will be a focus in regards to freight movement and connectivity."
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.
