Assistant Resources Minister Bryson Head says mining royalty investment needed to keep families, doctors, in regions

Figuring out where Qld’s huge coal royalties are being spent has been put on the agenda, with one minister saying there are regions with ‘no basic health services’ contributing billions in royalties.

Future Townsville 2025 at the Ville Resort Casino. Assistant Minister for Mining Bryson Head. Picture: Evan Morgan

Figuring out where QLD’s huge coal royalties are being spent has been put on the agenda, with one minister saying there are regions with ‘no basic health services’ contributing billions in royalties.

Assistant Resources Minister Bryson Head - himself a geologist by trade - said his own electorate of Callide was seeing this problem.

“In my own community we have businesses that have paid billions of dollars in royalties but we don’t have basic health services,” Mr Head told the Future Townsville event on Wednesday.

“We had maternity services put on bypass in Biloela...Those communities deserve their fair share of the pie along the way, and I’m not afraid to call that out.”

Mr Callide said it was essential the government provided quality services in rural Queensland otherwise it would become impossible to attract the families and workforce needed to progress the state.

Queensland LNP Members and candidates for the October 26, 2024 election - Bryson Head LNP member for Callide

“I’ve had couples say to me ‘we’re about to start a family’ so they pack up and move to where those services are,” he said.

“You can’t attract a doctor or a teacher to a school if they think it’s not going to be open for much longer.”

Mr Head said the Queensland government was putting “significant investment” into regional health, and retired Theodore doctor Bruce Charter proved that high quality healthcare is possible in small communities.

“He’s been providing input into some of our plans too,” Mr Head said.

Mr Head said he was committed to providing more transparency on where coal royalties were being spent.

Originally published as Assistant Resources Minister Bryson Head says mining royalty investment needed to keep families, doctors, in regions