Read about Katter’s Australian Party’s media mentions and moments from this week, including from radio, newspaper and more.

Katter’s Australian Party

GUNNING FOR THE PREMIER

28 Sep 2018 • Courier Mail, Brisbane (Edition Changes)
by Steven Wardill Jack Mckay
PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk faces being punished by State Parliament – or could even be referred for consideration of criminal prosecution – over allegations that she threatened Katter’s Australian Party MPs. Queensland’s corruption watchdog yesterday warned there was “prima facie” evidence that Ms Palaszczuk breached t he Criminal Code and urged she be stripped of the power to decide MP perks. The extraordinary findings by the Crime and Corruption Commission come after Ms Palaszczuk tore up KAP’s special staffing deal when the party refused to bow to her demands to denounce bigoted comments made by Senate recruit Fraser Anning. Senior legal figures said there was a “real prospect” Ms Palaszczuk had stumbled into a broad section of the Criminal Code against interfering with the duty of an MP and queried why the CCC did not pursue its own prosecution. Ms Palaszczuk dismissed t he matter shortly after the CCC finding but the Government was yesterday locked in discussion about how to handle the damaging saga. “In the heat of Question Time, people make comments and that’s the argy-bargy of Parliament,” she said. The Opposition and KAP both demanded parliamentary investigations and for Ms Palaszczuk to stand down during the deliberations. Opposition Deputy Leader Tim Mander called for a bipartisan select committee with equal government and non-government members to investigate her.

KAP on right track with support of rural pubs

28 Sep 2018 • Townsville Bulletin, Townsville QLD (Letters)
BUSH pubs are indeed the focal point of small rural communities. I believe Katter’s Australian Party have got it right in their push to reduce licence fees to encourage these establishments to stay in business while the communities they service are suffering with drought, poor farm gate returns, and the consequential exodus of the local population to the cities in search of employment (TB, 25/9). Take, for example, the community of Isisford. On a recent 7000km trip out west I passed through this once thriving sheep country town – add an extended drought and low prices and the community started to die. Last year it was the turn of Clancy’s Overflow Hotel to be abandoned, leaving the Post Office Hotel hanging on by relying on their caravan park and the occasional “nomad” to survive. Even over the New South Wales border there are the same problems, Coonamble, a once bustling country town, has pubs up for sale at $170,000 including four motel units – cheaper than a Townsville unit. KAP may not have the complete answer but every little bit helps.

Bob Katter – Federal Member for Kennedy

Our ‘greatest son’ must play, says Katter

24 Sep 2018 • Cairns Post, Cairns (General News)
by Danaella Wivell
BILLY Slater not playing in the NRL grand final would be “the greatest tragedy” according to Bob Katter. “We want to take dangerous play out of the game, but this wasn’t bloody dangerous play,” he said. “There will be outrage across the Far North if Billy does not play the grand final.

Committee in thumbs down to crocs Bill

24 Sep 2018 • Townsville Bulletin, Townsville QLD (General News)
by Chris Lees
A CONTROVERSIAL plan to control Queensland crocodiles has been rejected by a parliamentary committee. Katter’s Australian Party’s Safer Waterways Bill was called “ill conceived” and an “unacceptable risk” to public safety by the Innovation, Tourism Development and Environment Committee.

WHEN BOB MET SCOTT

25 Sep 2018 • North West Star, Mount Isa QLD (Letters)
In the meeting I had with the new Prime Minister, I took along my history book (An Incredible Race of People) which commenced with an iconic Dame Mary Gilmore poem. The best selling history book of all time The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes also commenced with that same poem. Dame Mary Gilmore is Scott Morrison’s great great aunt. She rests at the Cloncurry cemetery along with my two uncles (my father was buried in Mount Isa). I reminded Scott of Dame Mary Gilmore’s other famous poem No Foe Shall Gather our Harvest… West and four-square to the tempest, Whatever the battering hail– No foe shall gather our harvest, Or sit on our stockyard rail. And I reminded Scott that it’s my belief that today the foe is gathering our harvest and I hope that the inspiration of his great great aunt, a literary legend, lives on in Scott. I believe and hope that it does and that we will see a change to the selling out of our country and the inundation of our country.
Bob Katter, Federal Member for Kennedy

Fighting the good fight

26 Sep 2018 • Innisfail Advocate, Innisfail QLD (General News)
by Bob Katter
I’VE been using my influence to reorient our party towards affordable living. I think it’s rapidly getting up there with issues such as the bankruptcy of our country and the inundation of mass visa holders. I must mention that I put to the new prime minister last week in a meeting that if you’re going to bring people into this country then surely you bring in the persecuted minorities (Sikhs, Jews, Christians) and not the persecutors. I don’t know how retirees or families

are making ends meet – it would seem to me to be impossible. My own doctor brought to my attention to the fact that I, a person with medical insurance, could get straight in for an operation. I have a sinus issue caused by too many broken noses from rugby league and, I’m ashamed to say it, brawling. He said I could go straight in for an operation without delay but if I had no insurance, I would probably never be able to have my sinus operation. The free hospital system is collapsing around our ears. The great triumphs of the Theodore family, our own local Member of Parliament and his brother the famous ‘Red Ted’ would turn in their graves if they saw the closure of a free hospital system by a Labor Government and the Liberals would probably have

done it faster. In parliament, I asked this question and will keep up the fight. Thirty years of deregulation and privatisation has resulted in electricity prices from $670 a year for 11 years, it exploded to $2400; housing skyrocketing from $5600 to $15,000; food markets shrinking to Woolworths and Coles, resulting in margins between farm gate and housewife soaring from 80 per cent to 300 per cent; outpatients being abolished; the impossibility of getting elective surgery; and retirees and families now paying $4000 a year in medical insurance. Treasurer: is policy going to continue to be based on ideology or judged upon real, tangible outcomes?

Robbie Katter – State Member for Traeger

KAP seeks fair go for rural pubs

25 Sep 2018 • Townsville Bulletin, Townsville QLD (General News)
RURAL pubs could be given a liquor licence discount if the state Katter Australia Party gets its way. Traeger MP Robbie Katter has pushed to cut licence fees by up to 90 per cent for remote pubs. He said rural hoteliers shouldn’t be slugged the same fees as those in big cities. “There is good justification for this bill to be brought in quickly,” Mr Katter said.

Funding helps our groups

25 Sep 2018 • North West Star, Mount Isa QLD (General News)
MOUNTIsaMealsonWheels will soon be solar-powered thanks to a recent State Governmentgrant. The organisation will use the $24,184.10 it scored in Round 96 of the Community Gambling Benefit Fund to installa5kwsolarpowersystematitskitchen. The team at Mount Isa Meals on Wheels delivers around 1000 meals to the communityeachmonth. Secretary Bob Bentley said Meals on Wheels was committed to keeping its pricesaslowaspossible,and the new solar system would bringdownoperatingcosts. Member for Traeger Robbie Katter welcomed the news $300,000 had been allocated to Mount Isa community groups as part of Round96oftheFund. He said it was excellent to hearthatMountIsaMealson Wheels was able to invest in itsfutureasaresultofattainingoneofthegrants.

KAP WILL CONTINUE TO REPRESENT THE PEOPLE

27 Sep 2018 • Northern Miner, Charters Towers QLD (Letters)
I WOULD like to assure all constituents in the Charters Towers area that, despite the chaos that erupted thanks to the two major parties in recent weeks, my Charters Towers electorate office remains open and operational. The office has been busy with calls recently wondering if the office would close in light of recent issues . However, rest assured this is not the case. As I represent an electorate that is larger than 400,000sq m, I am able to operate two full-time electorate offices which I do in the Towers and also in Mount Isa. As most would likely have already heard, the KAP was recently attacked and had its “extra” staff slashed by the Palaszczuk Government. I say “extra” lightly because these are staff the KAP would have been fully entitled to had the LNP not rushed through legislation to rob minor parties of their staffing and resources entitlements in 2012. Just minutes before the annual Christmas speeches before the holiday period, the Campbell Newman Government (with its 78-seat majority at the time) introduced and passed last minute legislation to change the definition of “minor party status”. Prior to this, the current KAP state team would have been more than entitled to the staff that have recently been taken from us. I note this is something that the

Member for Warrego, Ann Leahy, failed to mention in her recent letter to the editor that ran in this paper. I also note that Ms Leahy mentioned nothing about the fact that our party, with only three parliamentary staff, have introduced three Private Member’s Bills into the current parliament. This is compared to the LNP, which has 22 parliamentary staff, and introduced zero Private Member’s Bills in the same period of time. The KAP’s staffing cuts came about because we would not bow to the ideological demands of the [remier over an issue totally removed from the state parliament and of little relevance to our jobs as state MPs. These cuts have had deep repercussions for me and my KAP colleagues at the parliamentary level, and have also affected how my Charters Towers office is staffed. But for the KAP now, all this means is that we are going to work harder and longer to ensure the main priorities for our electorates and rural and regional Queensland are pursued. In Charters Towers this means progressing the Millchester Motor Sports Precinct, delivering solutions to the flying-fox issue that are in line with community expectations and pushing for the realisation of the Big Rocks weir concept. There’s no time to waste and, as usual, we will be all burning the midnight oil to get these things done. ROBBIE KATTER, Member for Traeger.

Lifeline for rural pubs is coming

27 Sep 2018 • Northern Miner, Charters Towers QLD (General News)
LIQUOR licence fees for pubs in “very remote” Queensland could be slashed by up to 90 per cent in a matter of weeks. The Liquor (Rural Hotels Concession) Amendment Bill, introduced by KAP State Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter, was officially endorsed for the second time on Friday by the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee. The committee had recommended the bill be passed last year but it lapsed after the state election was called.

GET THE FACTS RIGHT

27 Sep 2018 • North Queensland Register, Townsville QLD (Letters)
The ongoing lies of Ann Leahy must be addressed. The Member for Warrego goes on like a broken record with her false claims the KAP preferenced Labor over the LNP at the last election. A simple fact check by visiting the Electoral Commission Queensland website, where all how to vote cards from the last election are recorded, puts Ann Leahy’s favourite fantasy to bed and exposes her willingness to deceive the public. Clearly the 22 LNP staff just aren’t enough when it comes to undertaking a simple fact check. I have requested a meeting with Ms Leahy so I can assist her on how to read how to vote cards. As far as her reference to the KAP undertaking a ‘sweet heart deal’ with Labor at the previous Parliament, the Member for Warrego forgot to mention the fact the LNP also offered this so-called‘ sweet heart deal’ to the KAP. It’s also important to remember it was Peter Wellington who gave Labor government, not the KAP. Ann Leahy receives $60,000 a year over and above her MP entitlement – for being an opposition spokesperson. Apparently this isn’t even enough for get together facts right, but it is enough for her to spend a huge amount of time attacking the KAP rather than the government. Nice work if you can get it Ann. Being so flush with cash it would only be fair to highlight what Ms Leahy has done for her electorate and regional Queensland. Well, we all know not a single LNP member has introduced a Private Member’s Bill in this Parliament. However, Ms Leahy did attend a hearing of an estimates committee that wasn’t her own in Brisbane and achieved…absolutely nothing. While she was busy achieving nothing in Brisbane, KAP members were out in our electorates. Of course it is a matter of record that the KAP, with support from Billy Gordon, blocked the Labor government’s vegetation management laws in the previous parliament. Ann Leahy’s only impact on Queensland has been to ensure other regional MPs lost four staff and reduced their ability to help regional Queenslanders. The LNP’s voting record on rural issues, rather than the KAP, has been more closely aligned with the Labor Government such as the Dairy Bill, Rural Development Bank and the Budget from the previous parliament. Well done Ann, regional Queensland salutes you for all of your great work.
-Rob Katter, Member for Traeger

Shane Knuth – State Member for Hill

Katter’s croc bill rejected again

27 Sep 2018 • North Queensland Register, Townsville QLD (General News)
A BID to improve measures to protect North Queenslanders from aggressive crocodiles has been rejected by a parliamentary committee established to investigate thechanges. Hill MP Shane Knuth has been fighting to get the Katter’s Australian Party Safer Waterways Bill through parliament since 2017, and it has now been rejected for a thirdtime. Thisisdespitepublichearings being held across the North, where tourism operators, lifesavers and other stakeholders expressed their support for the Bill, to boost measures to control exploding crocodile numbers in theregion. Thiswouldincludeculling ofaggressivecrocsinbuiltup areas and harvesting eggs to managenumbers. Mr Knuth said he would continue to fight for the bill, despitethesetback. “We are not going to give up on this, I am determined to work with the community toclaimbackourwaterways. “Waterways people previously swam in are now infestedwithcrocodiles.”

CROCODILES Knuth won’t give up

24 Sep 2018 • Cairns Post, Cairns (General News)
STATE Katter’s Australian Party MP for Hill Shane Knuth (right) has vowed not to give up on the Safer Waterways Bill after a parliamentary committee rejected it at a recent hearing. “The reality remains the same. People’s lives, our tourism industry and quality of life is at stake,” Mr Knuth said. Mr Knuth has tabled the Safer Ways Bill in Parliament twice since 2017.

Milk levy ‘unlikely to help far-north dairy farmers’

24 Sep 2018 • Courier Mail, Brisbane (General News)
A FAR-NORTH Queensland milk producer is convinced a 10 cents/a litre levy introduced by Woolworths and Coles supermarkets last week will not find its way into the pockets of struggling farmers on the Atherton Tablelands. The move was considered “a good start” by the Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation and Federal Agricultural Minister, David Littleproud “congratulated” the supermarkets in their efforts to support an industry.

But Katter’s Australian Party member for Hill Shane Knuth attempted to legislate a 10cents milk levy in Parliament last week for the third ime in five years, without success.

Nick Dametto – State Member for Hinchinbrook

7000 back feral game hunt push

26 Sep 2018 • Daily Mercury, Mackay QLD (General News)
A RECREATIONAL hunter has brought a petition before the Queensland Parliament to legislate the hunting of feral game in state forests for a three year trial, a proposal backed by nearly 7000 people. Daniel Boniface, a full-time student studying a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and also a recreational hunter, said such schemes are in place in NSW and Victoria, and have proven “safe and successful”. Hunting in Queensland is currently limited to feral animals on private property, with the landowners’ permission to hunt. In the petition, which has been supported by Katter’s Australian Party MP Nick Dametto, feral species, including deer, goats, pigs, foxes, feral dogs and feral cats could be hunted in Queensland’s state forests. Mr Boniface said the legislation would have “multi-faceted economic and ecological” benefits.