On a warm, sunny winter’s day in North Queensland, Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader Robbie Katter has doubled down on the short comings of the Brisbane centric budget for North Queensland and reaffirmed the KAP’s vision for a prosperous and unshackled North.

“The budget for Brisbane fundamentally contradicts the KAP vision for Queensland Prosperity,” Mr Katter began.  “That is not done by fancy policy announcements or plans but seeking and identifying opportunities then enabling them.”

The KAP leader’s address spoke to aspirations for unlocking North Queensland and Australia’s potential.

“Whether we think about natural resource management, like water, vegetation, reef regulations, or timber resources, or systematic infrastructure failings like rail, North Queensland’s potential to contribute to Australia’s development and prosperity is being choked by the Brisbane centric South East governments,” Mr Katter said.

“Add to this the continued failings on crime, housing, and simpler issues like grocery pricing, the North continues to be treated second best,” the KAP leader said.

Mr Katter acknowledged the few positives from the state budget for North Queensland, including:

• More than $700 million in the next financial year for construction of CopperString, connecting Mount Isa and the North West Minerals Province to the National Energy market.

“After more than a decade of advocacy and planning, we may finally see CopperString coming to life this year.  Poles in the ground and connecting wires will be the first tangible sign that this region-changing project will finally become a reality,” the member for Traeger said.

• A range of health upgrades, many of which were previously announced,

“For too long, health services in the North have been left to crumble, with staff more and more under pressure to deliver world class care in substandard facilities.  While I welcome the investment across North Queensland, a handful of pre-election spending announcements won’t con the people of North Queensland.  The whole system, not just individual facilities, needs investment, and only true local advocates can achieve that”, Mr Katter said.

Doubling down on this assertion that the Brisbane vote-buying budget is spending up big on social issues, rather than enabling Queensland prosperity, the KAP leader spoke to the economically irresponsible and non-sensical emissions targets, agreed to by all but four members of the Parliament.

“Here we have the woke-brigades in the ALP and LNP all chasing votes in Brisbane happy to follow the green line and send Queenslanders and the state broke,” the KAP leader said.

“Queensland only produces 0.4% of the world’s emissions, yet we are more than happy to cut off our nose to spite our face, drastically change our energy supply mix, and end up with sky-high power bills.

“Brisbane’s response seems simply to be use everyone’s money [taxes] to deceive Queenslanders that power isn’t going up – well it is, and the government and LNP are on a unity ticket that $1000 per household will fix the problem.  Well in North Queensland they could not be further wrong!

“$1000 won’t touch the sides on North Queensland bills heading to $10,000, and the gall of it all, is we don’t need to do this – it is all ideologically driven from the woke ALP and LNP.

“KAP remail firmly again emissions targets that are crippling household and industry right across North Queensland.

“Be it the ability for families to turn on the air conditioner when it’s hot, manufacturers to employ North Queenslanders, or mining companies to mine our abundant coal and critical resources, emissions targets put this all at risk,” the KAP leader said.

Instead of spending money on energy transitions, 50c train fairs, or Brisbane Olympics, Mr Katter said governments were better placed to spend on life changing infrastructure, like bridges to routinely cut off communities, and reforming the operations of rail, currently perversely forcing freight onto already disintegrating roads.

“It seems to me that governments from Brisbane are more interested in patch up jobs in North Queensland, and not enabling projects such as bridges or tunnels,” Mr Katter said.

“They are all too happy to spend billions on train and traffic tunnels for Brisbane, cutting a commute by a few minutes, but come to delivering real action in North Queensland – crickets.

“The Barron River and Gilbert River bridges, as well as flood proof crossings in gulf communities will not simply ‘save travel time’, they would mean that communities are industry remain connected to the outside world.  These bridges, combined with the KAP’s long standing call for a tunnel down the Kuranda range, are real solutions, to real problems in North Queensland,” the KAP leader said.

Mr Katter concluded his address, speaking about the nation building impact of projects like the Big Rocks Weir and Hells Gate dam.

“It never ceases to amaze me, that no matter how compelling the case, and wide support for a dam project in North Queensland, Brisbane’s governments and bureaucrats always find a reason to say ‘no’,” he said.

“Millions of dollars of Federal funding commitments and billions of dollars of foregone production and Queensland revenue is being wasted while Queensland refuses to work proactively to develop our country.

“This budget and Brisbane governments of either flavour are not just short-sighted, they are blinkered to the prosperous potential that North Queensland has.  KAP are here to say that North Queensland remains shackled by Brisbane and the South East and their aversion to any genuine new development outside the South East Corner.” The KAP leaders said.