Mount Isa, Australia News

Ray Hopper, State Leader for Katter's Australian Party flanked by Mt Isa MP Robbie Katter and Dalrymple MP Shane Knuth, announces the party's full shadow cabinet on the stairs of the Queensland Parliamentary Annexe earlier this year.

After a great rest day in Townsville we headed west to central Queensland. The first night was in Richmond which turned out to be very interesting as it had been the day of a Beef Crisis meeting.

The Royal Flying Doctor Service says attracting and retaining staff to remote areas remains one of its biggest challenges - 85 years after it was first established.

The baby bonus has been axed, 457 visa application fees have been increased, remote airstrips are being upgraded and famers are entitled to a dole-like payment.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan last night delivered his sixth budget, with the baby bonus abolished and a program of cuts to bring the budget back to surplus in four years' time.

Day 2: Sausage Dog Dog whisperer Mark tames a sausage dog with a spicy attitude.

Mount Isa MP Rob Katter says a change of heart is needed from the State Government to relieve a water crisis in a far north Queensland town.

The Queensland Government says it is committed to providing more livestock train services into the future but is hamstrung under contract arrangements.

RANKING police officers have been reshuffled and promoted as part of a major shake-up of the Queensland Police Service.

A mayor in north-west Queensland's Gulf Country says town water supplies for the small community of Forsayth, north-east of Mount Isa, may need to be trucked in from later next month.

Mr McVeigh has visited several shires after one-third of Queensland was drought declared last month, including stops in Cloncurry, east of Mount Isa, and Cunnamulla in the Paroo Shire, west of Toowoomba "The best way to sum it up is to look at country that you'd expect to see in this condition in say October, before the wet season comes again - ... (more)

The tiny Outback town of Richmond, 400km east of Mt Isa in northwest Queensland, celebrated its annual fossil festival last week.

TRIBUTES have flowed for a Boulia man who died when his motorcycle crashed on a dirt track on the outskirts of Mount Isa.

TONY EASTLEY: Australia's beef industry is in trouble and producers fear far worse is to come unless they can get help from government and export markets open up and prices improve.

A north-west Queensland mayor and grazier says the temporary ban of live cattle exports to Indonesia in 2011 has created the biggest animal welfare issue in Australia.

Seeing how thrilled Vanessa is now that Patrick's finally out of the woods, Lucas doesn't have the heart to tell her about his own health crisis.

Chief operating officer Steve De Kruijff says the company will now be known as Glencore Xstrata Public Limited Company and residents will notice a change to the Xstrata website over the weekend.

The North-West Hospital and Health Service Board has praised staff at the Mount Isa Hospital for topping the state and recording the best emergency department and elective surgery wait times.

A mayor from Queensland's Gulf Country says state and federal agriculture ministers have confirmed they will attend a crisis summit on the cattle industry next week.

Local LNP MP John Hathaway says it would be a "sensible move" for the Townsville Port Authority in north Queensland to take control of the Mount Isa freight line.