Telecoms, irrigation projects, and doctor training, top budget wins for Kennedy Electorate

March 29, 2022

KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, has welcomed significant announcements for North Queensland in the Federal Government’s budget, including a whopping $1.3 billion telecommunications package to expand mobile and internet coverage in the regions, $99.3 million to increase the number of medical students studying in rural and remote locations, and commitments for the construction of Charters Tower’s Big Rocks Weir ($38m) and Hughenden Irrigation Project ($170m). 

Telecommunications:


Mr Katter wrote to Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in the lead up to the budget calling for increased phone and internet funding for the regions and is pleased that the Treasurer has followed through.


$811.8 million over five years will expand mobile coverage and connectivity in regional Australia, building on the current Mobile Black Spot Program and the Regional Connectivity Program, and $480 million will go to the NBN Co to upgrade its fixed wireless and satellite networks to improve services in regional and remote areas.


“Telecommunications is consistently one of the biggest issues raised in the Kennedy Electorate whether I’m talking to people on the coast or out in the bush,” Mr Katter said.


“People need the internet and phone reception to work from home, whether its small business, farmers or miners, they work on hands free while driving, children study at home, and people do university online. And most importantly, having phone reception can save lives in an emergency. It has been a disaster since the major parties privatised Telstra.”


Health:


$99.3 million has been announced for rural and regional Doctor training as well as $33.3 million for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) over four years.

“A delegation of doctors from Mareeba, Gordonvale and Innisfail joined me to meet with Health Minister, Greg Hunt, last year and it’s proved to be quite fruitful,” Mr Katter said.


“We’ve been bleeding multiple doctors from all our towns. We have now secured HELP university study debt alleviations to attract doctors to the regions, and $99.3 million for up to 80 commonwealth supported medical students per year to be trained in the regions. It’s an ongoing battle but we will keep raising.”


Water:


An extra $8 million has been allocated to Charters Tower’s Big Rocks Weir for construction which brings the total funding commitment from the Federal Government to the project to $38 million.


Mr Katter says the water project, which he secured with the balance of power in late 2018, will increase irrigation farming, boost town water supply and believes it will lead to the construction of a meatworks.


“North Queensland had multiple meatworks, but they’ve all closed down except the one in Townsville,” he said.


“We need secondary industries in our towns like a meatworks. The weir will grow feed and increase cattle fattening in the late part of the year when cattle operators normally have to destock.”


The North Queensland Water Infrastructure Authority (NQWIA) which oversees the Big Rocks Weir, Hughenden Irrigation Project (HIPCo) and Hells Gates Dam projects, will be continued for another five years with $11.6 million in funding.


The Budget also recommitted $170 million for the construction of HIPCO and $5.4 billion for Hells Gates Dam. Mr Katter says he has communicated to the Prime Minister in recent days, that the dam wall crest height must be 395m above sea level to facilitate sending the water west and the Revised Bradfield Scheme.


Cost of living (fuel):


Mr Katter has said the Government’s cost of living measures including the temporary cut to the fuel excise, and its extra 50,000 places Home Guarantee Scheme, are somewhat short-sighted.


“Cutting the fuel excise does nothing to increase Australia’s fuel reserves which they say will last less than a month, I doubt they’d last three days in a rush. And now we’ve drawn on our ‘strategic’ fuel reserves located on the other side of the globe in the USA,” Mr Katter said. 


“We need fuel security and sovereignty. The crossbench MPs are supporting a proposal including a ban on the export of Australia’s oil (so it’s refined here), Australian grown ethanol, waste-to-diesel plants, and Australian made electric cars and buses strictly for public servants and metropolitan areas.


“Farmers in my electorate are screaming out for cost reductions on two of their biggest input items: fuel and fertiliser. The excise is a temporary sugar hit. We can make ethanol for under 80c a litre in Australia, if you allow 17c for transport and retailing, you are still coming in at a dollar.”


Cost of living (housing):


Mr Katter said the extra 50,000 places under the Home Guarantee Scheme would only drive up the demand for housing without increasing the supply, resulting in an increase to property prices.


“The Federal Government need to work with State and Local Governments to cut the restrictions around subdivisions,” he said.


“If they build superfast highways and people live on acreage blocks it will mean a comfortable living. Currently, you wouldn’t get a two-acre block in North Queensland under $250,000. The real cost of a block of land is $25,000.


“The State and Local Government restrictions have made subdivisions prohibitively expensive. If they’re two-acre allotments you can dodge out from curbing, channeling, headworks charges, sewage connections, and you can go off grid for your power.”


Copperstring:


On the Mount Isa to Townsville Copperstring Transmission Line, Mr Katter said there are intense negotiations going on between all parties concerned, and he remains optimistic that the outcomes will be positive despite no new funding announced in the budget.


“If we lose the copper smelter, fertiliser plant and Cloncurry’s Ernest Henry Mine it would be a hit of $3,000 million a year to Australia’s economy,” he said.


“A stay of execution for three years was negotiated with the Zurich based Glencore in 2020. God is good. Copper prices have tripled since then.


“But into the future we need competitively priced power from the national grid to survive in the North West Minerals Province. You can’t compete on gas at $16 a/unit, when our competitor countries are on gas at $6 a/unit. The Mount Isa power station will have a bright future supplying peak load power to the northern grid.” 


Tourism/Backpackers/Worker Shortage:


$63 million has been announced over three years to accelerate international tourist and backpacker arrivals through targeted marketing. The Government will also boost the number of Working Holiday Makers through a one-off 30 percent increase across all country caps in 2022-23.


“This is excellent. We called for a targeted campaign and the Government has delivered. We need backpackers to work in our pubs, farms and tourism operations,” he said.


“However, the UK free trade deal means that UK backpackers don’t have to work on farms or regional areas to extend their visas and this should be overturned.”


Other Key Funding announcements relevant to the Kennedy Electorate:


- $20 million for pest and weeds. $15.4 million to support Agricultural Shows societies. $12.4 million in 2022-23 to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to extend fee relief to local tourism businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. $10 million over two years for the Journalist (Cadetship and Training) Fund to support broadcasters and publishers to hire cadets and journalists to support public interest news in the regions.


-ENDS-

Australia Post Submission

By Dominique Moon • August 17, 2026
Throughout Australia our Post Offices aren’t just a luxury… for many, they are essential. Often they are the heart, soul and lifeblood of our country towns. A Senate Committee is currently looking at the future of our post offices - we’ve put in a submission highlighting the integral role of our post offices, fighting to ensure they remain open across Australia and continue to provide this vital service. To all the posties out there… thank you for keeping us connected.

AUSTRALIA IS NOT FOR SALE

By Dominique Moon • July 15, 2026
Is government seriously that tone deaf that it would permit the sale of 22,000 hectares of prime agricultural land to foreign investors????? UNFORTUNATELY .. the answer is YES . Our government has allowed the sale of a huge “Rushy Lagoon” property in Tasmania. THIS PROPERTY is roughly one-and-a-half times the size of Washington, D.C. (17,700 ha), and would fit roughly 30,800 international soccer pitches. THIS PROPERTY at capacity runs 85,000 DSE dairy and beef cattle. THIS PROPERTY employs hundreds of locals and supports the entire economy of the towns throughout the region. THIS PROPERTY is key to the sustainability and self-sufficiency of Australia’s domestic beef and milk markets. The INTERNATIONAL PURCHASERS want to turn it all into a “pine farm” - sacking staff and destroying the local economy, but also depriving Australia of the agricultural and wealth generation that comes with such a large agricultural enterprise. Ignoring the pleas from locals, government has rubber stamped the sale. AUSTRALIA WE MUST WAKE UP!!!! WE MUST FIGHT AGAINST FOREIGN LANDLORDS!!!! IT MIGHT NOT BE HAPPENING IN YOUR BACKYARD NOW…. BUT IT WILL BE SOON!!! AUSTRALIA IS NOT… AND SHOULD NEVER BE… FOR SALE!!!!

Nowhere to hide: Govt must make public imported peanut results

By Elise Nucifora • July 8, 2026
8 July 2026: North Queensland Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has demanded the Federal Agriculture Minister make public the “deeply concerning” findings of Government investigations into imported peanuts for Australian farmers “who every right to know whether their industry has been exposed to a biosecurity threat”. After meeting with the Federal Minister in Canberra last week, Mr Katter has formally requested in writing the Department of Agriculture’s full transparency on the results of investigations, alongside an immediate halt to peanut imports where Australia's biosecurity cannot be guaranteed. "Australia has strict biosecurity rules for a reason. They exist to stop dangerous pests and diseases getting into this country before they destroy Australian agriculture," said Mr Katter. "However, having been advised by the Minister last week of intensive investigations into imported peanuts – including the germination testing of particular significance – my office has now received evidence confirming germination of the samples collected for laboratory testing… which raises very serious questions because if peanuts can germinate, they are raw.” Mr Katter said the results indicating germination in all peanut varieties tested had raised fears imported peanuts are not undergoing necessary processing to eliminate raw biosecurity threats. "The Australian peanut industry is rightly worried about diseases that simply do not exist here – such as the devastating peanut smut in overseas crops which, once established, slashes yields by up to 75 per cent. Once these diseases are in Australian soil, there’s no magic wand to get rid of them." Mr Katter said reports the imported raw peanuts were being offered for sale nationwide reflected the extent of the potential national biosecurity risk “that we've seen again and again and again... We warned governments not to allow imported prawns because white spot disease would get in. We were ignored, and white spot came in. We warned about citrus canker. We warned about black sigatoka. We warned about papaya fruit fly. We warned about Panama disease. “If you believe governments have the best interest of Australian farmers at heart, then you believe in the tooth fairy – while they continue to gamble with Australia's biosecurity and food security to look after their precious ‘free’ trade agreements.”  Mr Katter said where there was genuine uncertainty about whether imported peanuts complied with Australia's biosecurity requirements, “they should not be coming into this country until that uncertainty is resolved. You don't wait until the disease arrives, before you lock the gate." ENDS

Katter welcomes Phosphate Hill sale as victory for North West

By Kahla Kruger • July 1, 2026
KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has welcomed the completion of the sale of Phosphate Hill, celebrating it as a major win for North West Queensland workers, industry and the future of Australian fertiliser production. Mr Katter said the announcement represented the culmination of years of relentless campaigning to keep one of Australia's most strategically important industrial assets operating. "This is wonderful news for North West Queensland," Mr Katter said. "For years we've been bashing the doors down, that if Australia wanted to keep industry alive, governments had to step in and secure a future for assets like Phosphate Hill." Mr Katter said the federal government’s Reserve Resource Policy had been instrumental in helping create the conditions for the sale. "Getting a Reserve Resource Policy in place has been one of the major achievements of my political life. We fought tooth and nail because Australia should never be paying world-leading prices for our own gas. "Our competitors in countries like the United States and Russia have access to affordable energy, while Australian manufacturers have been paying more than $16 a unit for gas.” Mr Katter said affordable gas was fundamental to the survival of the North West's industrial base. "Everything at Phosphate Hill depends on gas. It powers the plant and drives the chemical processes that turn our natural resources into the fertiliser. "Only a year or so ago we were staring down the barrel of losing one of Australia's biggest industrial centres, with the closure of copper and phosphate production threatening thousands of livelihoods across the North West. "This is an enormous relief for the workers, contractors, families and communities who never gave up. "I particularly want to thank the people of North West Queensland who stood together and fought for this outcome. They refused to accept that these jobs should disappear, and today their determination has been rewarded." Mr Katter said the focus must now be on ensuring Phosphate Hill has the affordable energy certainty needed to remain strong operation for decades to come.  -ENDS-

PODCAST: Tip of the Iceberg? | Immigration, Parliament & Bob's $300 Billion Blueprint

By Kahla Kruger • June 25, 2026
Parliament is back and so is the fight for Australia's future. This week, Bob and Elise sit down in Canberra to tackle one of the country's most contentious issues: immigration. Was the Bondi tragedy a warning sign? Bob argues it exposed much deeper problems, and that Australia's political class has abandoned its duty to protect the nation. Plus, inside Bob's $300 billion plan to transform Australia from a country that spends money into one that makes it. Listen now!

Our First Pubcast! Having a crack in paradise : Mission Beach, Mateship & Making It Work

By Kahla Kruger • June 21, 2026
This week on Wisdom Mongrel Patriot, Bob hits the road and takes listeners deep into the heart of the Kennedy electorate to showcase the people, places and businesses that make Northern Australia tick. Our first stop is the tropical paradise of Mission Beach, where Bob sits down with one of the region's young entrepreneurs, Liam Johnson, owner of Scotties Bar and Grill. Liam shares the reality of starting a small business in today's Australia. Despite the challenges, he's chosen to back himself and invest in his community. Why would a young bloke take the risk? What keeps him going? And what does the future hold for regional small business? Along the way, Bob and Elise explore the wider Mission Beach region; one of Australia's true hidden gems. From pristine beaches and tropical rainforest to tourism, agriculture and local enterprise, they discuss why this corner of North Queensland continues to attract people looking for opportunity and a better way of life. And because no road trip with Bob would be complete without it, listeners are treated to another classic Bob serenade that proves once again that politics and music are never far apart in Kennedy. This week is a story about backing yourself, building something from scratch and having a crack when plenty of others wouldn't.  Pull up a stool, grab a cold one and join Bob as he takes Wisdom Mongrel Patriot on the road. 🎙️🍻🌴

PODCAST: The War on Farmers: AgForce President Shane McCarthy Joins Bob Katter

By Kahla Kruger • June 4, 2026
This week, Bob sits down with AgForce Queensland President Shane McCarthy, better known to mates and colleagues simply as "Sheep". In a frank discussion about the future of Australian agriculture, Sheep outlines the biggest challenges facing farmers today. He discusses the need for cutting through layers of red and green tape to ensure that producers can get on with the job of feeding the nation. The pair discuss the growing burden of regulation, the need for practical policy solutions, and why governments must start trusting farmers instead of tying them up in bureaucracy. They also tackle the escalating pest crisis affecting rural Australia, including the impact of pigs, wild dogs, wild cats and other feral animals and invasive species that continue to devastate livestock, crops and native ecosystems across the country. Along the way, Bob and Sheep share a few laughs, including a brief detour into the mystery of Bob's famously crooked nose, before reflecting on the homeland and values that shaped them both. It's a conversation about agriculture, common sense and the people who keep Australia fed. Listen now for a paddock-to-parliament discussion on farming, freedom and the future of regional Australia.
texan

What happens when you put water into the dry country? Ask Texas.

By Kahla Kruger • June 1, 2026
For decades I've been saying that water is the key to Australia's future. We don't have to wonder what happens when you build the infrastructure to harness it—we've just heard it firsthand from the people who've lived it. A big thank you to Rod Wetsel, Jake Lederle and Quentin Wetsel for travelling all the way from Texas to Hughenden to share their experience. Their lessons from Sweetwater and beyond have shown exactly what happens when governments back irrigation and transmission infrastructure: industries grow, jobs are created, and towns that were once shrinking begin to thrive. We're saving years of trial and error by listening to people who have already walked this path. Congratulations to Mayor Kate Peddle, Flinders Shire Council, RAPAD, the Local Government Association of Queensland and everyone who helped bring this delegation together. These are the conversations that can shape the future of inland Australia.  The answer has never been to abandon the bush. The answer is to build it. That's how you nation-build.

World Blood Cancer Day puts local focus on life-saving donors list

By Kahla Kruger • May 28, 2026
28 May 2026: On World Blood Cancer Day today, Kennedy MP Bob Katter has welcomed the Federal Government’s announcement of strengthened funding for a major recruitment campaign to register hundreds of thousands more stem cell donors to be potentially called upon help save the lives of fellow Australians. In response to a question from Mr Katter in Parliament yesterday, the Health Minister confirmed Australia continued to hold one of the smallest stem cell donor registries of all developed countries – three years after vowing to expedite a significant increase in lagging donor registrations following representations by Mr Katter. The Minister also confirmed the Government’s call for tenders this week to establish a specialist stem cell donor registry and clinical service, to facilitate greater donor-recipient matches as the last hope for survivors. Mr Katter said the Life Saving List community campaigners had increased bone marrow donor registrants from 168,000 to 190,000 in the three years since the Health Minister noted Australia had not moved fast enough to help more blood cancer patients find donors. “In these three years, Australia has lost 18,000 lives – 20 people a day – including my nephew Liam,” he told Parliament before today joining community-based campaigners with the Parliamentary Group on Bone Marrow Donation to mark World Cancer Day in the Speaker’s Courtyard, where special guests from the Canberra Raiders demonstrated the quick and simple test to go on the register with just a cheek swab, or when donating blood. Along with Australian Red Cross Lifeblood and Stem Cell Donors Australia, Life Saving List campaigner Josephine O’Brien said she was grateful for the progress in the two years since the premature death of husband Liam, who remained steadfast in his commitment to growing the stem cell donor registry whilst fighting for his own life. Acknowledging the work of Lifeblood for the treatments Liam required daily thanks to the kindness of strangers donating, Mrs O’Brien said: “No family should have to carry the weight of finding a donor alone. When someone you love needs a stem cell match, you are already facing the hardest moment of your life.” She also paid tribute to the Canberra Raiders for their ongoing support with the “relentless efforts” of campaigners and Parliamentary Group on Bone Marrow Donation – including Mr Katter, Macarthur MP Dr Mike Freelander, Kooyong MP Dr Monique Ryan, Forde MP Mr Ted O’Brien, Lyons MP Hon. Rebecca White and their staff – who fought for the inclusion in 2023 of cheek-swab registrations as “a giant leap forward for Australia that would not have been achieved for many years without the force of Liam O’Brien behind it”. Mr Katter said the additional expansion of 17-year-olds to the list of eligible donors would increase the pool of potential registrants from which to recruit potential stem cell donors by several hundred thousand young Australians; and welcomed the Minister’s further advice that the successful tenderer to provide clinical services to match donors with patients, would be asked to consider whether the age limit be raised from 35-40 years.

PODCAST: Bob talks to Josephine O'Brien about the Life Saving List on World Blood Cancer Day

By Kahla Kruger • May 28, 2026
Josephine O'Brien joins Wisdom Mongrel Patriot on World Blood Cancer Day to share the deeply personal story behind the campaign that is transforming Australia's stem cell donor registry. After losing her husband Liam to blood cancer, Josephine has turned unimaginable grief into action, leading the fight to grow Australia's donor register and give other families the chance they never had. Bob Katter, his Chief of Staff Kahla Kruger, and Josephine discuss Australia's chronic shortage of stem cell donors, the progress made through the Life Saving List campaign, the importance of simple cheek-swab registrations, and why thousands more young Australians are needed on the register. This is a story of courage, persistence and hope, and a reminder that a single donor can mean the difference between life and death. Every Australian aged 17-35 can help. One cheek swab could save a life.