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General News

28 August, 2024

Funds withheld: Mayor calls on state to hand over promised $20m

Mount Isa is running out of time to prepare for next year's expected job losses.

By Matt Nicholls

Mount Isa was promised $20 million for a transition fund but the money hasn't been forthcoming.
Mount Isa was promised $20 million for a transition fund but the money hasn't been forthcoming.

Show us the money.

That’s the message from Mount Isa mayor Peta MacRae, who says she is frustrated that $20 million in promised project funding has yet to be delivered.

On the back of Glencore’s 2023 announcement that it would shed 1200 jobs as a result of the closure of its underground copper mines, the state government announced in February that it had created a $20 million transition fund for the city.

However, six months later and more than three months since the close of submissions, no funds have been forthcoming.

“There seems to be a lack of urgency,” Cr MacRae said.

“I was in Townsville on Friday and they have got three marginal seats, so they are getting money thrown at them, including $100 million for Reef HQ, but we’re losing 1200 jobs and we’ve only been promised $20 million for projects that still haven’t been announced.

“It’s really frustrating because we’re running out of time.”

Cr MacRae said both the state and federal governments were overlooking the importance of Mount Isa as the capital of a vast region of Queensland.

“There’s only one seat out here and neither of the major parties seem to have much interest in Mount Isa,” she said.

“Look at what has happened in Gladstone with Rio Tinto and the state government – they have stepped in to help save 1000 jobs but we don’t know what the deal looks like.

“I’d like to know how much they are contributing because it would be a lot more than what has been committed to Mount Isa.”

Rio Tinto this month put out a statement saying that it would work with the Queensland government “to safeguard a pillar of the state’s heavy industrial manufacturing base around Gladstone under a partnership to support investment in renewable energy projects”.

“The agreement announced today represents an important step towards securing a long-term future for Australia’s second-largest aluminium smelter, Boyne Smelters Limited and thousands of jobs in central Queensland supported by the operations,” Rio Tinto said.

A dollar figure was not in the Rio Tinto release.

Cr MacRae said Mount Isa City Council, along with private enterprises, had made submissions for funding under the state government’s $20 million Mount Isa Transition Fund.

“We have an application in and I believe a lot of private industry are waiting to hear back,” she said.

“Half the time has gone (since Glencore’s announcement and the closure of the underground operations) and there hasn’t been a shovel in the ground.”

Applications for the Mount Isa Transition fund closed on May 3.

North West Weekly asked the office of State Development Minister Grace Grace when the funding would be announced.

A spokesperson provided no details, saying: “The government will be announcing details of the Mount Isa Transition Fund in the near future.”

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