The council-elected representative body travelled to the indigenous island community on Wednesday where they discussed the next steps in the ongoing Belcarra reform process and a looming federal election.

LGAQ President Mayor Mark Jamieson described the decision to convene the LGAQ’s Policy Executive on Palm Island as momentous.

“This is the first time in the 122-year history of the LGAQ that we’ve held a meeting at an indigenous community,” he said.

“I'd like to express my thanks to Mayor Alf Lacey, Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council for his hospitality.

It is especially important this occurs during their community’s centenary year.”

Palm Island Mayor Alf Lacey thanked the Policy Executive for their attendance on behalf of his community.

“It’s been a pleasure and an honour,” he said.

"We would also like to extend an invitation to the Palaszczuk Government to follow the Policy Executive's lead and bring the Cabinet to Palm Island to hear directly from our community on local issues.

"It would be wonderful to welcome them during our centenary year."

Touring Palm

Palm Island, also known as Great Palm Island, or by the Aboriginal name Bwgcolman, is a tropical island with a resident community of about 5,000 people. 

The visiting delegation of mayors and councillors on the LGAQ Policy Executive toured houses occupied by families built under the National Partnership Alliance on Remote Housing program.

Despite providing jobs and shelter for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for a decade, there is currently no commitment from the Commonwealth Government to replace or continue the vital funding.

WATCH: LGAQ President Mark Jamieson on the importance of continuing long-term funding for Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander councils to build houses in their communities.

The Policy Executive also visited Palm Island Bwgcolman State School who were raising funds for the Palm Island renal unit, where they collectively made donations of $500 during their visit.

The school runs the cafe to teach kids both hospitality and business skills.

Did you know?

• The LGAQ Policy Executive are responsible for the determination of the Association's policy on behalf of member councils.
• The Policy Executive consists of 15 district representatives and the President.
• Councils in each district can comment and feed into the issues up for debate and decision ahead of each of the six annual meetings. Councils can subscribe to alerts to receive notifications of policy items open for review.