Costo in the Community

With constituent Richard Filewood, who spent 41 years as a soldier, and his four-legged mate Harley after we both laid a wreath at the Remembrance Day service in Cannonvale, organised by the Airlie Beach Whitsunday Sub-Branch of the RSL, on 11 November 2019.

With Lance Corporal Simon Jeppesen, a former Calen schoolboy, at the 56th annual awards night for the Calen District State College on Remembrance Day, 11 November 2019.

With School Captain & Senior Dux, Emmalese Dunn, at the 56th annual awards night for Calen District State College on 11 November 2019.

With the ABC’s Adam Stephen, just minutes before we went ‘live’ across regional Queensland from Airlie Beach, on the opening afternoon of the seventh annual Airlie Beach Festival of Music, which I continue to support, on 8 November 2019.

With up-and-coming Mackay triathlete Calvin Franklin who came away with the senior award at the annual NQ Sportstar of the Year Awards in Ingham on 2 November 2019.

With my old mate, former TV colleague, SBS World News presenter and host of SBS highly acclaimed Tour de France coverage Mike Tomalaris in Airlie Beach on 21 October 2019.

With Duncan Robb from Dingo Beach Boat Hire at Dingo Beach on 21 October 2019, lamenting the likely impact of a planned duplication of the local boat ramp, something I lobbied extremely hard for, on his business, set up more than 25 years ago, and other local boaties.

With Calen postmasters Troy Fernance & Nicole Van Tonder & their beautiful 13-month-old daughter Bexley at the Calen Fishing Classic on 20 October 2019.

With Dawn Merrett at the public meeting at St Helens Beach on 19 October 2019 when almost 100 locals gathered to express their concerns about Mackay Regional Council¹s draft anti-erosion plan for St Helens Beach.

With Rockhampton Grammar School Headmaster Dr Phillip Moulds, only the ninth Headmaster in the school’s 138-year history, at a parliamentary reception for Queensland’s independent schools on 17 October 2019.

WIth Bicycle Queensland president Bill Loveday and QPS officers, preparing to hit the pedals outside Parliament House on National Ride2Work Day on 16 October 2019.

Catching up with my old mate from Rockhampton, former Collinsville shopkeeper and local rugby league star from the 1960s, Clarry Martin, for the first time in 26 years at the Collinsville Scottsville Workers Club after we had attended the 65th anniversary memorial service for Collinsville¹s 1954 mine disaster, which killed seven miners including Clarry¹s uncle.

With counsellor Travis Rogers and his visiting Lives Lived Well colleagues from Mackay at the launch of the Ice Help program at Cannonvale’s Whitsunday Neighbourhood Centre on 14 October 2019.

WIth constituent and retired coal miner Bluey Peterson at the Collinsville Scottsville Workers Club on 13 October 2019 after marking the 65th anniversary of Collinsville’s 1954 mine disaster which claimed the lives of seven men including Bluey’s father Henry, who died just before Bluey’s mum gave birth to him.

With rodeo stalwart and announcer Tony Ward, whom I first met in Rockhampton in the 1990s as a TV journalist, at the Kuttabul Bullarama which I officially opened on 12 October 2019.

With some of the volunteers behind the Proserpine Rodeo Association at the Kuttabul Bullarama, which I proudly opened and sponsored on 12 October 2019.

With visiting racegoer Amber Vodvarka at the Bowen Cup on 12 October 2019.

WIth outback identity Barefoot Bill at the Prairie Hotel on 23 September 2019.

With well known Barcaldine racehorse trainer Todd Austin, winner of the 2019 Birdsville Cup which I saw myself, and sons Tommy and Toby who proudly played for the Barcaldine Sand Goannas at the Paul Bowman Challenge in Proserpine on 22 September 2019.

With constituent, grazier and cane farmer Marvin Deicke, near the Gregory River, north of Proserpine, on 22 September 2019.

Presenting the award for Junior Champion Angler, which I proudly sponsored, to Bowen schoolboy James Steele at the 2019 Bowen Fishing Classic on 22 September 2019.

With the local volunteers who organise and run the annual Bowen Fishing Classic, aka The Classic Crew, after the official presentations on 22 September 2019.

Hamming it up with fisherman Lindsay Wilson after he brought his catch back to the weigh-in at the Bowen Fishing Classic on 21 September 2019, with chief weighmaster Dave Skinner looking on in the background.

WIth fellow co-patron Gaye Galea after the Eimeo Surf Lifesaving Club¹s annual inflatable boat race on 15 September 2019, coinciding with the official start of the surf lifesaving season up and down the Queensland coast.

With constituent Maria Valena, celebrating her 25 years as a Justice of the Peace with the presentation of a framed certificate at her Eimeo home in front of family and friends on 15 September 2019.

With ex-serviceman Chris Bull at the annual dinner of the Airlie Beach-Whitsunday Sub-Branch of the RSL at Cannonvale¹s Reef Gateway Hotel on 14 September 2019, showcasing the long overdue recognition of WWI hero William Dartnell VC, as part of Operation Pilgrimage…. this time taking Mr Bull to South Africa.

With Hughenden women’s rugby league coach and local businessman Les Carter at the St Francis Catholic School Fete in Hughenden on 13 September 2019, capping my first ever road trip as Leader of NQ First, visiting a host of communities in the North West.

At the Combo Waterhole, part of the Diamantina River and the spiritual home of Waltzing Matilda surrounded by flies, cattle and coolibah trees on 12 September 2019… almost 125 years since AB (Banjo) Patterson wrote those words to Australia¹s most famous song.

With Prairie grazier and veteran Flinders Shire Councillor Billy Bode at the FJ Holden Cafe in Hughenden on 12 September 2019.

With Richmond’s iconic Kronosaurus at Kronosaurus Korner, a popular stop or tourists traversing the Flinders Highway between Townsville and Mount Isa, on 12 September 2019 during my historic road trip of North West Queensland as Leader of NQ First.

With North Queensland Livestock Industry Recovery Authority chairman and CEO and Northern Territory Chief Minister Shane Stone and NQLIRA advisory board member, former Meat and Livestock Australia chairman and respected Burdekin grazier Don Heatley in Cloncurry on 11 September 2019.

With fair airfares for the bush campaigner Hamish Griffin in Cloncurry on 11 September 2019.

With Ross Thinee and Glenn Graham from the Mount Isa to Townsville Economic Development Zone (MITEZ) in Mount Isa’s Rodeo Drive, right in the heart of the Isa¹ which I first visited as a schoolboy in 1987, on 10 September 2019.

Checking out the remains of the former uranium mining town of Mary Kathleen on 10 September 2019 during my first ever road trip as Leader of NQ First, calling on a host of communities throughout North West Queensland.

On my first road trip as Leader of NQ First, pictured west of WInton on 7 September 2019 before visiting communities in the North West including Boulia, Dajarra, Mount Isa, Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Richmond and Hughenden.

With my old Sarina rugby league mate and Barcaldine identity Stephen Dancey at the Birdsville Hotel after attending the iconic Birdsville Races on 7 September 2019.

With Kobe and Cooper Liesch after the official opening and blessing of more than $6 million in capital works projects at St Catherine’s Catholic College in Proserpine on 6 September 2019.

On the banks of Ross Creek in Townsville after the final day of the sitting of State Parliament in the North on 5 September 2019… just three days after News Corp papers broke the story about the emergence of North Queensland First.

With proud Torres Strait Islander and talented schoolboys rugby league player George Abednego, whose father Terry I know from my previous visits to Thursday Island, at NRL Cowboys House in suburban Gulliver in Townsville on 4 September 2019.

With Proserpine business owner Rebecca Stewart and her beloved Charli on 2 September 2019… the same day that News Corp papers broke the story that I was setting up my own political party, North Queensland First.

With some of the volunteers who assisted thousands of people to participate in Bowen’s annual Lighthouse Walk from Dalrymple Point on low tide to historic North Head Lighthouse, just off the coast, on 31 August 2019.

With Tammy Meyer, president of Northern Beaches Seaview Lions Club, at Eimeo SLSC on 14 July 2019 when she was presented with a Melvin Jones Fellow… the highest individual honour within Lions International.

With Proserpine Chamber of Commerce president Bob Bogie and fellow Chamber member Garry Stewart at the Chamber’s Christmas Dinner at the Metropole Hotel in Proserpine on 11 December 2019.

With Magpies Sporting Club’s 2019 Magpie of the Year ‘Gold Award’ recipient and local rugby league star Tyler Gardiner at Magpies Sporting Club in Mackay on 25 October 2019.

With former classmate Jamie Ahwang, who was with me at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in South Mackay as a ‘nipper’ in the late 1970s, at the annual indigenous rugby league carnival in Mackay on 26 October 2019.

With long-time Moranbah residents Mark and Leah Anderson at the town’s annual ‘Spring Races’, the biggest event on the calendar at Treasure Park, on 9 November 2019.

With Whitsunday Coast Chamber of Commerce president and Airlie Beach businessman Allan Milostic at the Chamber’s Christmas Party at Coral Sea Marina on 22 November 2019.

With long-serving Wujal Wujal Mayor Cr Desmond Tayley and Deputy Mayor, Cr Robert Bloomfield, at a showcase for their close-knit Far Northern indigenous community at Parliament House on 26 November 2019.

With a beaming Arabella Morgan, Dux for the primary school, at the Whitsunday Christian College’s annual awards ceremony in Cannonvale on 13 November 2019.

With ‘flag man’ Alen Sanderson as he receives a new Queensland Flag on behalf of the Whitsunday Leisure Activity Centre in Proserpine on 10 December 2019.