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Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter has announced young father and truckie Clynton Hawks as the KAP’s candidate for Thuringowa in the 2024 Queensland State Election.

Mr Katter said Townsville, as the capital of North Queensland, was key territory for KAP which presently holds three seats that border the garrison city in the State’s unicameral parliament. 

He said the party intended to play a pivotal role in the next government, and was hell-bent on preventing the Greens and the inner-city-centric majors from dictating the future of the regions from their high-rise offices in Brisbane.

Mr Hawks, who is well-known and has led high-profile rallies last year in response to the city’s youth crime crisis, said he was passionate about providing genuine representation to Townsville locals. 

“This isn’t my first foray into politics but over the last 12 months I have been very encouraged by the support I’ve received in standing up for victims of crime in the community, having been a victim of a home invasion myself,” he said.

“This has been my focus but now, with the next State Election only a year out, I realise that holding rallies and mobilising people to fight back is not the limit of what I can do. 

“Having first-hand experience of crime myself, and seeing the inaction and politicking of the current Thuringowa MP, I want to take this chance to make a difference.

“I think the only way we will see a change is if we take the power away from the people who have abused it – in this case the Labor Party but also the LNP who have failed to stump up any decent opposition.”

Mr Hawks said he would campaign on the introduction of the KAP’s Relocation Sentencing policy, minimum mandatory sentencing for repeat juvenile offenders, a dedicated police helicopter for Townsville, as well as the establishment of a police beat in the Willows Shopping centre.

However, he said crime would not be his only focus during the 12-month campaign, also setting his sights on making Townsville, and especially the outer suburbs, more liveable for families, and addressing the cost-of-living crisis in North Queensland.

“People are struggling to put food on the table, and are making choices about whether to drive their kids to sport or drive them to school,” he said.

“You get mugged in the carpark at Willows, then you go into Woolies and get mugged at the checkout.

“And then we go to polls and we get mugged by the power brokers in Brisbane.

“North Queenslanders aren’t mugs, and we have had enough.”

Mr Hawks said he believed the people of the Thuringowa electorate deserved better representation, and said MPs wedded to the two-party machine could not adequately represent those in the regions.

He said he’d joined the KAP because of its inherent commitment to putting North Queensland first.

Mr Katter said he had been impressed by Mr Hawks’ enthusiasm as well as his efforts to mobilise otherwise ‘voiceless’ people. 

“In helping to bring the community together, and in amplifying the cries of the victims of crime in Townsville, Clynton’s all but doing the work that a good representative of the community – a good MP – would be doing,” he said.

“The KAP has been successful because our MPs are ordinary, hardworking people – who not only talk the talk but walk the walk, and act with integrity.

“Shane Knuth was a fettler in the railways and Nick Dametto worked his own tourism business as well as in the mines, which my father did as well.

“Clynton drives roadtrains, and comes home with grease under his nails.

“He’s down-to-earth and understands the worries of everyday Queenslanders, and isn’t a product of the politician factory in Brisbane.

“We are excited to have him onboard.”

KAP Federal MP Bob Katter said while Mr Hawks had done an outstanding job thus far in speaking up for the North on crime and the need for relocation sentencing, he had been equally impressed with his attention to the multitude of issues facing his region and state.

“Clynton was the person in Australia who alerted the country to China’s decision to stop Australia from getting AdBlue,” Mr Katter said.

“We ended up in a situation where we only had about four weeks’ supply before the trucks went off the road. So pretty good going for a bloke in Townsville to alert and get action for the whole nation.

“Clynton is family-orientated man who understands the KAP values and the values of the North well. His family has been in private business which he’s been involved himself.”

 

–ENDS–