They have been sworn political enemies for four decades but Bob Katter and Tony McGrady have shaken hands on something they both agree - keeping the Mount Isa Mines copper operation going into the future.
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Mr Katter paid a visit to Mr McGrady's house in rodeo week to thank the former Labor state minister for his work in keeping the smelter operations going in the lead-up to the last state election.
Mr Katter thanked Mr McGrady for his work behind the scenes making sure that the Mount Isa copper smelter open for another four years after the state government funded the rebricking of the smelter ahead of last year's state election.
Mr Katter said Glencore had flagged the closure of the smelter well before the event and if that closed it would take down the Incitec Pivot fertiliser plant with it and the Townsville copper refinery with the loss of thousands of jobs across North Queensland.
"No one had seemed to grasp that. But Tony has very close relations with the Premier (Annastacia Palaszczuk, who was Mr McGrady's chief of staff during his ministerial days)," Mr Katter said.
"I said to Tony, that if you pull this off, it's my moral obligation to tell the people you rescued the town."
Mr Katter said Mr McGrady's work saw the state government grant a multi-million dollar concession to keep the smelter going.
While the official figure has not divulged as commercial-in-confidence it is understood that the state provided between $30-40 million to keep Glencore's North Queensland copper smelter operations going.
Mr McGrady said others were involved and there was a key role from former minister Dr Anthony Lynham, who retired from politics at the last election.
"Lynham was brilliant behind the scenes, I explained to him what it meant, it wasn't just for Mount Isa it was for north Queensland." Mr McGrady said.
"As a result the Premier opened her election campaign at the Mount Isa copper smelter."
Longer term Mr Katter and Mr McGrady also both support the CopperString transmission line to connect Mount Isa to the national electricity market.
Mr Katter said Copperstring would bring power prices down and make North West mines much more competitive.
READ ALSO: Mount Isa Rodeo wraps up
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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.
