Mayoral Minute - February 2025

Published on 27 February 2025

February has been a busy month for advocacy.

The beginning of February saw a delegation from the Australian Mining Cities Alliance head to Canberra to pursue the platforms that are the highest priority for its members: housing affordability in Australian mining cities; fly-in-fly-out workforce practices in regional Australia; tax reform for sustainable regional mining communities; inclusion of iron ore and steel-making coal on the critical minerals list; and the transformation of mining communities following mine closures.

We were able to secure meetings with Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Senator for Queensland Susan McDonald, Federal Member for Hunter Dan Repacholi, and the Minerals Council of Australia.

Independently, I was able to meet with Senator Tim Ayres, and the Mayor of Barkly Regional Council Sid Vashist.

As we all understand, leadership is about relationships and people, while management is about resources and tasks, and the relationships we are building through our advocacy pieces are starting to create pathways that could create long-term structural change for our communities.

I was delighted to see Demus King from the Minerals Council of Australia join us here in Mount Isa for the launch of the Future Economy Roadmap.

Having a peak body join us from Canberra, with a focus on what common use of facilities could de-risk projects for miners and benefit the region as a whole, is invaluable.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to have meetings with Queensland Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg, Queensland Water Minister Ann Leahy, Queensland Resources Minister Dale Last, and Premier David Crisafulli.

I would like to thank our local Member Robbie Katter for the acknowledgement in State Parliament and for getting the floor to consider the contributions of Mount Isa over the last decade, for allowing me to work from his office for the day, and for his support in meetings.

Last Friday we had the launch of the Future Ready Economy Roadmap. On behalf of the Councillors, I would like to thank our CEO and staff for the work they put into this event, and of course the team from The Next Economy.

Mayor MacRae's Roadmap Launch Speech(PDF, 221KB)