Katter and Queensland's minor parties may be ignored this election, but not silenced
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Version 0 of 1. Rob Katter wants to talk about the drought, which has hit thousands of square kilometres in western, central and northern Queensland, but which barely features on the agendas of the main parties in this month’s state election. “It’s no surprise to me the drought assistance package that they’ve got is near on useless,” Katter says. “It’s using a peashooter to stop a bull elephant and even LNP supporters in Queensland will tell you that.” Katter, the son of the federal MP Bob Katter, won the seat of Mount Isa for Katter’s Australian party (KAP) in 2012, beating Labor member Betty Kiernan with a 10% margin. Of all the minor parties contesting the election, KAP is the only one with sitting members – it holds three seats. Polls and the bookies give the smaller parties a fighting chance of taking a few seats, with both the Liberal National party and Labor vulnerable in seats ranging from the western regions to inner-city Brisbane. But with no upper house election of the kind that favours smaller parties in other states (Queensland has only a single house of parliament), the minor parties are up against it to make headway, even with the assistance of the so-called “preference whisperer”, Glenn Druery. And while the Greens (currently polling about 7% and hopeful of snagging a seat) focus most of their efforts on Brisbane, Katter has an electorate of almost 600,000 sq km to cover as he tries to drag rural concerns into the public eye. “It’s very hard to get around, I don’t have a great social life and I spend a lot of time in the car. I think it’s a distinct disadvantage for western seats because if I’m driving and in the car then I’m not making calls, or following up and reading incoming bills and participating in the debate because you’re busy in your electorate,” he says. Katter wants a reconstruction bank to support farmers struggling with the drought, describing the state government’s drought assistance package of about $64m over two years as inadequate. “A lot of these people have generally viable businesses, but they’ve had to borrow money for feed and drought fodder, and with the live export ban and the drought they’ve been hit for the past few years,” he says. “They’re good, efficient producers that just can’t hold on, and the times are going to get good again.” Katter says the government’s asset-leasing program will hit regional parts of Queensland harder than the metropolitan areas when private companies start looking to save money. The current proposal, which Campbell Newman says he is open to changing if the government does not get the right price, is to raise $37bn by leasing assets such as energy generation, electrical distribution, transmission and retail to the private sector on 99-year leases. “You’ll have Ergon [electricity distribution and transmission and retail] workers slowly diminish out here so when you have power failures it’ll take longer for someone to service that and we’ll have power out for three or four days, instead of half a day,” Katter says. “When things are profit-driven, the focus comes off service standards and employment opportunities. Governments are able to focus on maintaining some sort of social agenda where they can get employment up in rural towns and support rural towns, [whereas] private industry couldn’t give a stuff.” The Palmer United party (PUP), which overshadowed KAP in Queensland at the 2013 federal election, holds no state seats, though two LNP MPs briefly defected to it before quitting again. The PUP leader, Clive Palmer, granted 4BC radio an interview at the beginning of the campaign but has been relatively quiet since, largely confining his contributions to a steady stream of media statements announcing candidates and accusing Newman of calling an election to avoid the political fallout of the PUP-initiated Senate inquiry into Queensland. He has been a constant critic of the premier, but is vague on state policy specifics. He has a strong political name in his leader, John Bjelke-Petersen, son of the former premier Joh. Palmer has also criticised the planned asset leasing, saying Queensland needs to maintain control over electricity. The federal Greens senator Larissa Waters says the party hopes to at least “make inroads” in some inner-city and Sunshine Coast seats. Greens Queensland spokesman, Charles Worringham, who is standing in the seat of Moggill, says it would be a win for the Greens if they took just one seat. He says there had been no discussion of preference deals with other parties, and warned Newman his refusal to countenance forming a minority government might come back to bite him. “I don’t think he’s considered us in the picture, has he? We may well have representation, and if we do that’s a new ballgame … I seem to remember very similar words coming out of the mouth of the prime minister, and look at what he’s having to deal with down in Canberra.” The federal Greens leader, Christine Milne, says the party is planning the type of grassroots campaign that ultimately got Western Australia senator Scott Ludlam over the line in the federal poll. She says the Greens had had “a fantastic response” to calls for volunteers. “Unlike Tony Abbott and Campbell Newman who are going after their big business mates, the Greens are out there communicating with people in the electorate,” she says. The Greens are focusing their campaign on protection for the Great Barrier Reef and are particularly critical of the Newman government’s support for mining in the Galilee basin. The Labor leader, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has echoed Newman’s position of refusing to negotiate with minor parties or independents in the event of a hung parliament. |