Fury over creditor deal for flailing Mount Isa rodeo

Creditors of the Mount Isa Rodeo are furious they will receive only half the money they are owed as the event’s future remains under threat. Now local MP Robbie Katter has weighed in.

The Mount Isa Rodeo was placed in administration in October with debts of $1.9m. Picture: Supplied

Creditors of the flailing Mount Isa Rodeo have been left outraged by a deal to deliver them only half of the money they are owed as the event’s future remains under threat.

The outback institution was placed in administration in October with debts of about $1.9 million before administrators SV Partners successfully lobbied the State government for a $2 million rescue package as part of the Mount Isa Transition Fund to help the region’s economy as the town’s copper mining operations wind down.

However, the Mount Isa City Council has offered to pass on only $909,090 to creditors, costing many of them thousands of dollars in a deal giving them repayments in the range of 47-55 cents in the dollar.

Administrator and SV Partners director Michael Brennan said the council’s stance was “disappointing”, but creditors, some of whom will now lose five-figure sums, went much further.

“That is fed with a capital F,” said one creditor who will lose more than $5000.

“We know they have got $2 million from the state government … we have no idea what is happening with the other $1.1 million.

“On what planet is this OK?”

Mount Isa Mayor Peta MacRae and Minister for Tourism Andrew Powell last year.

Another creditor said it was “a kick in the guts” after years as a loyal supplier of the rodeo.

“They want us to cop a massive hit on the chin and then turn around and return to work for whatever form the rodeo might take in the future,” they said.

“Tell ‘em they’re dreaming.”

Mr Brennan said administrators had done all they could for creditors before agreeing to accept less than $1m.

“We are proud to have turned an initial $500,000 funding rejection in September into a $2 million state government support package by December, which provided creditors with a better outcome than originally anticipated,” he said.

“It is disappointing that the Mount Isa City Council, despite the economic support package provided, has chosen to withhold more than half of the funding that would have allowed creditors to be repaid in full.

“After so much effort, the decision leaves 83 local businesses and community groups short-changed.”

Mount Isa Mayor Peta MacRae said the council had made it very clear that only $1 million would be going to the rodeo and the remainder of the funding would go towards several projects integral to the town’s post-mining economy.

“Mount Isa is going to go through a period of unprecedented change,” she said.

“It’s a big ask.

“This should be a good news story about the council giving almost $1 million to the creditors of the rodeo but instead we’re being made to look like the bad guys due to the rhetoric of the (administrators)”.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie and Tourism Minister Andrew Powell, whose departments were closely involved in the rescue package, have also been contacted for comment.

Traeger MP Robbie Katter said administrators of the event needed to step out of the way and let the community move in to ensure an event is held this year. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

In December, they proudly boasted that the State government’s rescue package had “breathed life back into the iconic Mount Isa Rodeo”, but it remains unclear what form any revived rodeo will take.

Traeger MP Robbie Katter was furious at the administrator’s stance throughout the process and said they had heated conversations behind closed doors, which had increasingly been aired in publicly released documents.

He said the administrator had to now step out of the way and allow the community to establish a grassroots rodeo in time for August, as he worried there might not be enough time to do so.

Mr Katter said it would be up to the council to determine how the remaining funds should be spent to continue the event.

In a report to creditors the administrator accused the State MP of not advocating for the small businesses in his electorate that would be short changed by the decision to settle.

But Mr Katter said he had the best interests at heart more than a Townsville-based administrator, and that he took “great offence” to the criticism.

“I couldn’t care less what he says, his words mean nothing,” Mr Katter said.

“He’s a liquidator that goes into debt money for the creditors and extract the debt for themselves.

“I said ‘who are you mate, I live here, you live in Townsville, you care about your fee, I’ll be here in a few years time, you won’t.’”

Originally published as Fury over creditor deal for flailing Mount Isa rodeo