Councillor Column With Councillor Callan Oar

Well, the rain has given us an overdue break and things are slowly drying out.

I hope everyone impacted by the weather event have not suffered too much.

While clean-up efforts are still in full swing, I would like to remind people of one of the risks associated with these wet muddy conditions.

Melioidosis cases have been on the rise and have very sadly taken the lives of 3 elderly people in the Townsville area. Melioidosis is caused by bacteria in soil that tends to emerge more after heavy rain or flooding. When in or around soil or mud please wear boots, gloves and most importantly do not let any open wounds come into contact with the elements.

One of my councillor duties is acting as the Council representative on the Burdekin Shire Rivers Improvement Trust. We had our first meeting since the flood on Monday and boy do we have our work cut out. Any work we do will fully depend on external funding.

I hope the Federal and State governments give us our fair share. We all know how eager they would be to put their hands in their pockets if this event happened in the Brisbane River.

Did anyone notice the Cowboys trial on the weekend? I usually don’t take much notice of trial games, but any time we beat Melbourne is worth noting. Cowboys 2025 NRL Premiers!

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