PMs flying visit to Isa shines light on North West’s vital role
January 8, 2025
KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has welcomed Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese and Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King to Mount Isa today, saying that their brief stop-over enroute to the Northern Territory is a recognition of the North West’s vital contribution to the country.
“Albo’s visits to the North West are really starting to rack up. I think this might be his fifth or sixth visit, and after Opposition Leader visited the Isa a few months ago, it really goes to show how much influence an unaffiliated member of parliament can have,” Mr Katter said.
“But is it any wonder that he keeps visiting the North West, a place that has the largest mineral deposits in the world, he knows how vital it is to national interest.”
Mr Katter said the Prime Minster needed to intervene on Glencore’s copper mine closure, which has left nearly 2,000 people jobless, and kick-start Copperstring to get the region producing minerals as soon as possible.
“The most important thing that the Prime Minster can do for Australia is to increase mineral exports out of North and North West Queensland,” Mr Katter said.
“Mining is not easy. We pay the highest electricity costs in the world and if we want to stop mine closures, then we need to deliver Copperstring as fast as humanly possible.
“He needs to tell Glencore, ‘You’ve got to mine as much copper as you can, and if you can’t, then get out of town and let someone else in to do it.’ If we were in the United States, this would never happen. There is a snowflakes chance in hell they’d let some foreign company control the boom gates to a major commodity, which is exactly what Glencore is doing in Mount Isa.”
Mr Katter said Australia was at risk of producing less copper in the future at a time when this mineral is critically important to defence, energy and telecommunications infrastructure.
“The cost of energy and the amount of red tape is making it impossible for mines to get off the ground. It’s unacceptable Australia should be in this position when we are supposed to be a mining country- not a quarrying country.
“We’ve got to get the mining industry to maximise production. We’ve got to get big infrastructure built in regions with critical minerals.
“We’ve got to build the North West, and we’ve got to build it big.”
KAP Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter, who also welcomed the brief visit, said the Prime Minister’s approach to Glencore’s abandonment of the lucrative Mount Isa copper resource would define his commitment to protecting Australia’s sovereignty surrounding critical minerals.
“The PM and his team have made comments that protecting the strategic use of our critical minerals is a matter of national security and essential to protecting our sovereignty, and we need to see that sentiment enforced out here in the North West,” he said.
“Ensuring continued mining of this asset, with or without Glencore, should be a high priority for him as should unconditionally supporting the build of CopperString.
“CopperString is the largest infrastructure spend ever committed to in this state outside of Brisbane, and its successful delivery is essential to providing for the future of all of regional Queensland.”
ENDS
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