New aeromedical bases for both the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) and RACQ LifeFlight Rescue will be among facilities coming to North West Queensland thanks to $22.29 million from the second round of the $100 million Resources Community Infrastructure Fund (RCIF).
Deputy Premier and Minister for State Development Steven Miles said Mt Isa would gain the co-located aeromedical hub plus a new children’s aqua play park while Cloncurry and Julia Creek would gain major new childcare centres.
“Queensland communities should be the first to benefit when the resource sector they support succeeds,” Mr Miles said.
“That’s why the Palaszczuk Government has partnered with the resources sector to deliver the $100 million fund.
“North West Queensland is the big winner in this round of funding, with over half the funding being granted to Mt Isa, Julia Creek, and Cloncurry.
“Most importantly, thanks to RCIF, North West Queensland will have a new, co-located health emergency flight service that can better serve the region as well as three excellent new facilities focused on children’s recreation, care and early learning.
“The other grants will ensure North West Queensland’s world class lifestyle is made even better, with a new early learning centre in Cloncurry, an upgrade to the child care services in Julia Creek, and an upgrade to the Mr Isa Splashez Aquatic Centre.”
The two RCIF grants will help deliver a co-located Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (RFDS) facility at Mt Isa Airport featuring hangars and other facilities for both RFDS’s fixed-wing flights and RACQ LifeFlight Rescue’s helicopter services.
RFDS will gain over $6.9 million to help establish the new facility that will better meet the needs in North West Queensland communities for emergency and primary health care services.
The facility will provide even better response times and experiences for patients.
The new RFDS base will include four hangars, patient-transfer facilities, nurses’ stations, offices, rooms for operations, communications, meetings and training as well as kitchen, staff accommodation and maintenance facilities.
LifeFlight Australia receives a grant of over $3.9 million to assist with the planned upgrade of their Mt Isa helicopter services.
Their air base will be co-located with the RFDS aeromedical base, enhancing coordination of services.
LifeFlight will be able to fly further and help more people in North West Queensland. Their new base will have a hangar suitable for a Bell 412 or AW139 helicopter, a helicopter pad, workshop, crew accommodation, amenities and offices.
Cloncurry Shire Council Mayor Cr Greg Campbell said the town’s need for additional childcare would be addressed thanks to a new early learning childcare centre to be funded through a RCIF grant of over $4.3 million.
“Staffing will continue to be an ongoing challenge, the RCIF grant allows us to build a modern fit-for-purpose facility and we will continue to support and grow our workforce in preparation for the opening of an amazing new facility,” Cr Campbell said.
“RCIF is a fund directly supported by mining companies and the state government.
“Keeping pace with community growth is critical if we want our mining and agriculture sectors to flourish.”
Julia Creek will also gain a major child services facility upgrade thanks to a RCIF grant of over $6.2 million for McKinlay Shire Council.
“The grant will deliver a children’s services hub providing childcare as well as a consultation room for visiting allied health services that will greatly improve access to children’s health care,” McKinlay Shire Mayor Cr Philip Curr said.
“The hub will include indoor and outdoor play areas, a sleeping area for babies, kitchen, store rooms, administration offices and amenities as well as the allied health services consultation room.
“This will be a great service for young local families providing care for newborns through to school age children thanks to the inclusion of outside-hours school care.
‘We are extremely grateful to the State Government for providing this funding and happy that the government is acknowledging the growth in north-west Queensland and the need to provide important community infrastructure to facilitate this growth.”
Mt Isa City Council will upgrade the Splashez Aquatic Centre with a new aqua play facility thanks to a $996,408 RCIF grant.
“Our town pool will be an even better and more dynamic space for families when we add the new water slide, which will really appeal to kids aged 12 and under, and will really complement the new water play facilities at the soon-to-be-completed upgraded Family Fun Park,” Mount Isa City Mayor Cr Danielle Slade said.
“The water slide will be a great feature for Splashez – it’s something that locals have been requesting for years, and now we will be able to deliver it to the community, thanks to the RCIF funding from the State Government.
“The water slide will make Splashez an even more fun and attractive place in which to hang out and spend time with friends and family.
“On behalf of Mount Isa community, I want to thank the State Government for making this possible.”
RFDS (Queensland Section) CEO Meredith Staib said the two RCIF grants would help deliver the new state-of-the-art aeromedical base at Mount Isa Airport.
“The RFDS will gain more than $6.9 million to help establish our new Mount Isa Base which will be custom-built and feature dedicated hangar bays, improved transfer facilities for patients, as well as an enhanced working environment for medical staff, pilots and ground crew,” Ms Staib said.
“Vitally, the new facility will ensure we’re able to continue to deliver the very best medical care to communities right across the region, including via our emergency retrieval and inter-hospital transfer service which we deliver in partnership with the Queensland Government.
“We’re incredibly grateful to the Queensland Government for this funding and look forward to starting construction on the new Base in early 2023.”
“This is fantastic news for the communities of North West Queensland. To be given such significant funding is a reflection of how important this region is to the State Government and a recognition of the vital work RACQ LifeFlight Rescue and RFDS undertake here,” said LifeFlight Australia Chairman Rob Borbidge AO.
“Many deserving and worthy projects applied for this funding assistance and we are extremely grateful it was recognised that the joint Mt Isa base will deliver great value to the North West region. We sincerely thank the government for this commitment.”
“This purpose-built facility will bolster our capability and ensure we are able to meet increasing demand for a fully integrated fixed and rotary wing emergency care response capacity in this vast region,” said LifeFlight Australia CEO Ashley van de Velde OAM.
“Together, the RFDS and LifeFlight bring vital aeromedical retrieval services to the people of North West and Central West Queensland. We are complementary services. Our two organisations share a mutual commitment to the provision of care to people in regional and remote parts of the state.”
Member for Townsville and Minister for Resources Scott Stewart said the Palaszczuk Government was delivering for Townsville through the RCIF.
“The Palaszczuk Government has committed $30 million to the fund with participating Queensland coal and mineral resources companies contributing $70 million,” Minister Stewart said.
“The projects not only deliver infrastructure that further improves liveability in resource communities, they also create more jobs and more opportunities for regional Queenslanders.
Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Ian Macfarlane welcomed the announcement of round two funding projects.
“The QRC is the peak body for coal, metal and gas explorers, producers and suppliers and we are very proud that members of our industry are contributing a total of $70 million to the RCIF for projects that will have significant benefits for our local resource communities,” Mr Macfarlane said.
An expert Advisory Committee considered RCIF applications for both funding rounds.
Committee Chair Tony Mooney said there had been strong interest in both of the RCIF rounds.
“Resources communities can now get ready to continue benefiting from the RCIF through this new round of projects,” Mr Mooney said.
“The committee looks forward to resources communities, including workers and their families, enjoying the many benefits of these projects.”
