General News
2 October, 2024
Councillor takes aim at state government's $20 million spend
James Coghlan said the funds wouldn't help Mount Isa recover from losing 1200 jobs.
James Coghlan has fired a shot at the Queensland government for its bungling of a $20 million fund that was supposed to help Mount Isa in the wake of 1200 job losses from Glencore’s copper mining closure.
Speaking in general business at last week’s Mount Isa City Council ordinary meeting, Cr Coghlan said the government had failed to fund any significant projects.
“I’m disappointed at the state government that they seem to have ignored all the hard work that (council CEO Tim Rose) did and instead listened to people who whispered in their ear for their own agenda and self-interest,” the first-term councillor said.
“They’re not going to create jobs; they’re just going to support them.
“The majority of the jobs aren’t trade-based and that’s what Mount Isa, Queensland and Australia, is crying out for and what this council has been working towards.
“The jobs in these programs aren’t the kind that the 1200 people over there want.
“There are some welfare agencies that have been granted money but we don’t want welfare.
“We want people ... to come here and work hard and make a future and contribute to our community the way my parents did.”
Cr Coghlan said the $20 million Mount Isa Transition Fund should have been spent on projects that would create jobs, not just a social benefit to the community.
“We don’t need money thrown at us. We just need it to be spent by the right people for the right purpose,” he said.
“The government needs to listen to councils west of the Great Dividing Range and not be blinded by the cash cow they see when they look at the North West Minerals Province.
“I’m concerned for our future over the next eight years because more and more money is going to be siphoned off to the south-east corner for the Olympics.”
The Queensland government last month released a list of 10 projects to share in the $20 million fund, although details have yet to be made public.