Mayor's Column - Longreach Leader 16 July 2021

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This column first appeared in the Longreach Leader on Friday 16 July 2021.

Go Tigers! Congratulations to the Longreach/Ilfracombe Tigers, who defeated the Blackall Magpies in the Central West Rugby League Grand Final on Saturday night. It was a great occasion, played on home turf at the Martin Forrest Recreation Centre in Ilfracombe. The standard of play is something both teams can be proud of. Congratulations to the coaches, players, and everyone who made the Grand Final such a great event.

The game coincided with the Ilfracombe Races, and the way the two events coordinated well with each other is a credit to everyone involved. The rec centre is a facility our whole region can be proud of, and it was the perfect venue for such a great game of football.

Can I also acknowledge the selection of Kurt Mann, who is from Winton but has strong links to our region, in the Queensland squad for Wednesday’s State of Origin match. It just goes to show the strength of the game in our region and the passion for league that exists in our communities.

Another chapter in the sporting history of our region will be written next Friday and Saturday, the 23rd and the 24th, when we play host to the final round of the Outback Queensland Masters in Longreach. It’s the richest amateur golf tournament in the world, and Longreach is proud to be home of the final round and the prestigious Million-Dollar-Hole-In-One. Playing passes are sold out, so the competition will be fierce out on the fairways, but you can still find out more about spectator passes to the event and enjoy all the entertainment, including Rhonda Burchmore and Casey Barnes. Visit outbackqldmasters.com for more information. 

Council had its July meeting in Isisford this Thursday, in the Town Hall from 9:00am
As usual, all our meetings are open to the public, and I encourage anyone who wants to better understand what we do to come and sit in on a meeting.  Of course, failing that, you’ll find all our agendas and minutes on our website. One of the things we considered this month is our special holiday for next year. It’s also been good to see a lot of planning applications come through in our agendas lately. That demonstrates people are confident investing in their businesses and properties in our region.

Council continue to support the work of Central West Hospital and Health Service through our Local Disaster Management Group. Our team recently participated in an exercise to test the region’s capacity to run pop-up drive-through testing at the Longreach Showgrounds, should the need arise. It was a very successful exercise and it just means if we need to take that step, we’re ready. We also continue to support their work on the vaccine rollout – they hosted a first dose Pfizer clinic this week from Monday to Wednesday 12 – 14 July at the Longreach Civic and Cultural Centre. 

If you missed out this time round you can email cw-covax@health.qld.gov.au or call 1800 953 703 for more information. You can also follow Central West Hospital and Health Service on social media to stay up to date with local developments. Also don’t forget to use the ‘Check In Qld’ app everywhere you can – especially now that it’s compulsory. 

Until next time, you can find email and direct phone numbers and email addresses for me and each of my fellow Councillors on our website at longreach.qld.gov.au/elected-members. If you want to know anything at all, reach out to one of us - or contact Council directly on (07) 4658 4111 (24hrs), or email assist@longreach.qld.gov.au.