Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) MPs are calling on all elected rural representatives to stand up against “reef ignorance”, as the Party’s Reef Regulations Reversal Bill is debated – and possibly voted on – in Parliament this week.

KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said the resumption of debate on the bill would be another watershed moment for farmers, where regional MPs from both Liberal and Labor parties would have to decide whether they want to acquiesce to radical environmentalists in the city, or stand up for the people they represent in their electorates.

“The KAP introduced laws to bring some sanity back into the reef debate; the bill simply takes the situation back to the protections introduced back in 2010”, Mr Katter said.

“Since then, the Government has indulged in the frenzy around reef science, and no one should ever dare question it – but the KAP have dared to question this on behalf of the people of rural and regional Queensland.”

“The word ‘science’ is thrown around a lot in parliament when discussing this very topic, however no one in parliament yet, on the debate of the reef regulations, have dared to elaborate on what this ‘science’ actually is.”

Mr Katter said the KAP had tried to keep the debate around the following facts:

• The average distance of reef from the coastline is about 50 km;
• An amount of sea water, equivalent to the entire average annual flow from every river and creek in the reef catchment, pushes across the GBF in just 8 hours, due to tides and currents;
• Currently, the coral cover over the reef is at record levels, or at the very least near record levels, according to AIMS data.
• There is no instrument available that is sensitive enough to determine any significant change in nitrogen levels (supposedly the biggest impact from farming activities) on the reef because they are so minute.

“Yet despite these facts we have been sold a lie that farming activities have created catastrophic conditions on the reef from nitrogen levels killing the coral. It is very difficult to reconcile this mainstream scientific notion with reality and the facts,” Mr Katter said.

“The political problem is that major parties are chasing votes off people in the cities, who are ill-informed on reef facts.

“An industry has been created around reef science, with many people under the impression, and heavily invested in the notion, that the reef is sick and needs fixing.

“It is our farmers, who provide for us, who have been the sacrificial lamb in this debate.”

“North and Central Queensland MP’s need to stand up for their electorates when the KAP Reef Regulations Bill is debated next week, demonstrating that they are a group of people willing to stand up for their regions, against the political whims of the people in the south-east.

“We want the likes of Cynthia Lui (Cook Electorate), Dale Last (Burdekin Electorate) and Julieanne Gilbert (Mackay Electorate) to support the Bill.”

“The KAP strongly urges people along the reef catchments, to encourage their MPs to support the KAP Bill in Parliament next week.”