Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question without notice is to the Prime Minister. Given that, this year, 21 Australians in Mount Isa have taken their own lives—a rate 23 times higher than the Indigenous average and 80 times higher than the national non-Indigenous average—could a senior officer from the office of the Prime Minister attend the emergency forum scheduled for Mount Isa? Further, could the Prime Minister address some of the applications of state intervention policies which have driven people from north-western and border communities into Mount Isa, causing terminal overcrowding, widespread alcoholism and resultant crime and abuse? Finally, could the Prime Minister consider solutions to address causes—land titles for economic development, plant operated training for mining and build-your-own-homes programs—that have in the past been so successfully undertaken in neighbouring Cloncurry?

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