General News
18 December, 2024
Treasurer welcomed in Cloncurry as council eyes airport upgrade
Jim Chalmers made a flying visit to the North West with Senator Anthony Chisholm.
Cloncurry Shire mayor Greg Campbell hopes that a flying visit from Jim Chalmers is a good omen for the council as it looks to secure funding for key projects.
The federal Treasurer dropped into Cloncurry on Thursday with Senator Anthony Chisholm, where they were walked through plans to upgrade the historic airport before visiting Corella Park Station.
“We’ve got a long history of having treasurers visit Cloncurry; we’ve had Joe Hockey and Scott Morrison here in recent times,” Cr Campbell said.
“We wanted to show him the major airport upgrade we want to get completed and while he was there a FIFO jet came in and a number of Cloncurry mustering helicopters landed, so it was good that he saw it was so busy.”
The mayor said the council’s proposed $18 million upgrade of the airport infrastructure was critical for the economic prosperity of the region, as well as long-term disaster management.
“We saw not long ago that we were the hub for the aerial firefighting efforts and in 2019 we were the hub during the floods,” he said.
“Importantly, the mines in this region rely on the airport to get their workers in and out. It is a gateway for about 70,000 miners each year.”
Cr Campbell said the trip to Corella Park, owned by councillor Jane McMillan and her husband Anthony, was at the request of the Treasurer.
“He was keen to see a working cattle station and it was too hot for one and too wet for another, so we landed on Corella Park because it has good road access,” he said.
At a press conference in Longreach that morning, Mr Chalmers said the trip around Queensland was about listening to locals.
“We’re off to Cloncurry to meet with the beef industry and some of the local government mayors and others as well. So, this is all about making sure that we listen to regional communities, particularly in regional Queensland,” the Treasurer said of his multi-day tour with Senator Chisholm.
“We’re both Queenslanders, very, very proud Queenslanders, and we take every opportunity we can to interact with the communities of regional Queensland and the industries of regional Queensland.”
