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-

Bob Katter Attends Battle of the Coral Sea Commemorations in Cardwell

By Kahla Kruger • May 7, 2026
Bob Katter, KENNEDY MP, has attended commemorations for the Battle of the Coral Sea in Cardwell over the weekend, joining veterans, families, community members and local organisations in paying tribute to those who served during one of the most significant naval battles of World War II.P The Battle of the Coral Sea, fought in May 1942, marked a major turning point in the Pacific War and is widely recognised as the battle that helped halt the Japanese advance towards Australia. Mr Katter said commemorative events like the Cardwell service were critically important in ensuring Australians never forgot the sacrifices made by servicemen and women who defended the nation. “These men and women stood up when their country needed them most. Many never came home, and many others carried the scars of war for the rest of their lives,” Mr Katter said. “Events like this are about paying our respects and making sure younger generations understand the price that was paid for the freedoms we enjoy today. “Regional communities have always carried a very strong tradition of service. You see it right across North Queensland and I have spent untold hours in pubs talking to families who have served generation after generation in defence of this country.” Mr Katter also thanked organisers, veterans and volunteers involved in the commemorations for ensuring the legacy of Australia’s servicemen and women continues to be honoured. “As Australians, we have a duty to remember them. Ceremonies like the Battle of the Coral Sea commemorations keep that spirit of remembrance alive.” ENDS

Nearly 50 Years of Country Music Magic: The Story Behind the Charters Towers Country Music Festival

By Kahla Kruger • May 7, 2026
What started as a small idea tossed over a meat pie in a bakery in 1977, has has turned into one of the biggest drawcard events for North Queensland.

Katter backs in farmers’ pre-Budget ethanol plea to fuel our future

By Kahla Kruger • May 5, 2026
6 May 2026: After spending half his 50-year political life fighting to secure a home-grown supply of cleaner and greener biofuels, Federal MP Bob Katter has backed in an historic alliance of agricultural heavyweights united behind a national ethanol mandate – to protect our health and enable our iconic feedstock industries to deliver greater fuel self-sufficiency – at the highest levels of government.  Following direct discussions with Canberra in the wake of yesterday’s joint plea by Australia’s peak grain and sugarcane representatives for sustainably produced ethanol-blended petrol to be mandated nationwide, the North Queensland MP called on the Federal Government to “provide reassurances that the long-overdue implementation of an enforced ethanol mandate is being considered at the highest levels of government” ahead of next week’s Budget, amid the world’s worst energy shock strangling global supply chains and crippling domestic industries. “Ethanol and biodiesel production can be immediately scaled up within a year to extend our existing fuel stockpiles – instead of being shipped off to safeguard other countries’ fuel security because demand from the foreign oil giants for Australian-owned biofuels is still not growing even in the case of domestic supply disruptions and soaring prices,” said Mr Katter. “However, in just 10 years, sustainably Australian-grown and manufactured renewable ethanol could be supplying 10 per cent of Australia’s total domestic petrol requirements, alongside local biodiesel for another five per cent self-sufficiency if there was a biofuels mandate.” The alliance of the National Farmers Federation, GrainGrowers, Australian Sugar Manufacturers and CaneGrowers behind a domestic biofuels mandate follows two decades of both the major and green parties’ rejection of seven of Mr Katter’s private members bills* since 2002 for sovereign biofuels security – with 200 (or one-fifth of all) speeches to Parliament referencing ethanol and biofuels about 1000 times since his 1993 election to the seat of Kennedy; and state laws for ethanol mandates moved by KAP MPs along with dozens more ethanol representations to the Queensland Parliament by Traeger MP Robbie Katter since 2012. “Our laws have been laughed out of Parliament by every government this century,” said Mr Katter after repeated warnings of an inevitable fuel supply crisis facing an island nation left to become dependent on imports without future-proofing our critical fuel and food industries – including the Sovereign Fuel Security Bill 2022 drafted with crossbenchers in the pandemic-era Liberal-National government, for the new Labor Government to secure 80 per cent fuel sufficiency (by banning oil exports for local refining with biofuels) and reliable power and fertiliser inputs for vulnerable industrial and regional communities. “Whilst two of the world’s ‘big-four’ export industries in Australian grain and sugar join everyday Australians screaming for greater fuel self-sufficiency – with no end in sight to the Middle East war shock on global supply chains – governments must act immediately to secure our biofuels future with primary producers and local manufacturers in the national interest, and expand domestic refining to include our own indigenous oil reserves sold offshore for a fraction of the price it costs us to buy back, from our foreign overlords, as 90 per cent of our refined fuel needs.” Mr Katter was equally scathing of the commercially conflicted big oil and motoring groups who for years pushed back against ethanol-blended fuel mandates instituted in 2007 by the NSW Government, to prevent deaths from carcinogenic aromatics and tailpipe emissions that ethanol instead reduces – “which is why more than 60 countries have already moved to ethanol, without all their cars breaking down all over the place” and increased ethanol content to almost one-third of Brazil’s petrol; 20 per cent now mandated in India (five years ahead of national targets to cut oil imports, reduce emissions and support domestic agricultural industries); 15 per cent in the United States, and 10 per cent in China. “So all the lies about engine incompatibility peddled through a complicit media, they can share the guilt of needless deaths of thousands of people in our big cities from small particle emissions,” said Mr Katter. “And we will be moving our legislation once again, to hold every major party and greenie politician to account to the Australian people, as to why we’re one of the last countries on Earth – apart from New Zealand, Africa, and the oil-producing nations like Russia, South America and Venezuela – to future-proof our renewable biofuels self-sufficiency without even spending a cent on a mandate, as well as protecting our health and hip pockets, along with our iconic regional industries and communities.” ENDS * Following the Fuel Quality Standards (Renewable Content of Motor Vehicle Fuel) Amendment Bills put to the Australian Parliament as an Independent MP in 2002, 2005 and 2006, the Katter’s Australian Party MP further moved his Renewable Fuel Bills in 2013, 2016 and 2017, and the Sovereign Fuel Security Bill in 2022.

Wisdom, Mongrel, Patriot - Episode 3: Nation Building or Nation Bleeding? Bob Katter's battle for "make money infrastructure"

By Kahla Kruger • March 26, 2026

Halve fuel excise or watch fruit rot, shelves empty

By Kahla Kruger • March 17, 2026
KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has written to the Prime Minister to immediately halve fuel excise to deliver emergency relief from record price pressures crippling the nation’s freight industry, and protect Australia’s primary producers. Mr Katter has warned the PM that farmers and freight operators being crushed by fuel costs across North Queensland are now reaching breaking point – with the escalating threat to their viability raising alarm that Australia’s biggest banana-growing region faces the prospect of fruit being left to rot this season, due to prohibitive fuel prices for harvest and transport. “If we fail to act quickly, the consequences will not be limited to regional Australia,” Mr Katter wrote to the PM. “When farmers in Kennedy cannot afford to harvest and transport their produce, supermarket shelves across the nation will feel the impact.” Mr Katter said that while farmers, truck drivers and families struggled under exorbitant fuel costs, the Commonwealth Government continued to collect both fuel excise and GST on every litre sold – “still taking the cream from every bowser while the people who grow and transport our food are pushed closer to the brink”. With the North Queensland electorate of Kennedy accounting for one of the nation’s largest and most productive food bowls – growing 90 per cent of Australia’s bananas for our second-most bought supermarket item, after toilet paper – Mr Katter said reports of growers now questioning whether they could afford to harvest fruit this season were “an unacceptable situation for a country as wealthy and resource-rich as Australia”. “We are being told farmers are letting fruit rot as the cost of picking it and trucking it to market no longer stacks up. That should send a chill through every government office in this country.” With immense pressure on the road freight industry that underpins agricultural supply chains, major North Queensland operators fear the unsustainable burden of out-of-control fuel costs. “Companies such as Blenner’s Transport and Curley's Transport – the lifeblood of our supply chain in North Queensland, moving produce from paddocks to plates – they are left with no choice but to pass on those increasing costs down the line,” said Mr Katter. “And the people at the very bottom of that chain are our farmers.” Mr Katter said halving the fuel excise would deliver relief not just to freight companies and farmers, but also families across the country. “This is a simple decision the Prime Minister can make right now to protect Australia’s farmers and the supply chain that feeds this nation.” ENDS

Wisdom, Mongrel, Patriot - Episode 2: Bob sinks the boot into government for selling Australia off and out

By Kahla Kruger • March 12, 2026

Wisdom, Mongrel, Patriot Podcast - Teasers

By Kahla Kruger • March 10, 2026

Labor is drunk on power – killing the bush pub and Australia’s soul next in line in ‘woke agenda’

By Kahla Kruger • February 4, 2026
KENNEDY MP Bob Katter MP led a scathing attack on the Albanese Government’s handling of the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 in Parliament, calling it un-Australian and warning that it was clear Labor was drunk on power moving legislation that threatens the heart of Aussie culture – having a beer at the local pub. “The original Labor Party was born in the pubs of Australia. These fellas in those days would quite literally drag you out of a pub and punch you in the face if you didn’t take a union ticket out – yet here we are, debating a law that taxes beer. I cannot think of a better example of just how dangerous and drunk on power the Labor party have become. They are now threatening the very fabric of our social and community life,” Mr Katter said. The Bill before Parliament seeks to freeze the automatic inflation-linked increase on draught beer excise for a two-year period from 1 August 2025 to 1 August 2027 but Mr Katter wants the increase scrapped indefinitely. Mr Katter seconded his crossbench colleague, Barnaby Joyce’s, second reading amendment of removing the annual increase to keep alive an Australia tradition. “Australia's identity very much comes out of the bush pub, and you are eroding the identity of Australians if you take that away. You are also eroding our ability to talk to each other,” Mr Katter said. Mr Katter, who is infamous for talking with patrons of pubs all over Australia, said one of the most important places to learn about the state of politics and the state of the nation was by talking to people having a beer. “As a member of parliament, I like to find out what people are thinking and what their attitude is towards the government's policies and the best way to do that is to go down to the local hotel. “I’ve been shown an interesting graph which shows suicides amongst males in Australia – parallels the graph of the decline of the hotels and people going into the pubs. “I know that, if I myself am really down, I just go down to the pub, have a lot of good fun with my mates and go home a lot happier and more relaxed than before. But, for people who are more traumatised by reality than, probably, I am, it really is a matter of life and death in many cases, and that's not an exaggeration. “There's a little town called Maxwelton, and I love pulling up there because of all the cockies in the area and all the contractors and various other people that are employed in the cattle and sheep industry. You find out what's going on. You could have a good time at the Maxwelton pub. Well, it doesn't exist anymore, because of the impositions that government placed upon it.” Mr Katter warned that while a freeze may superficially lower the pressure on draught beer prices, many in the hospitality and brewing sectors argue that a broader reform is needed to sustain small venues and local producers. “Beer is tradition, it is community, and it is part of our social fabric. A two-year freeze on indexation isn’t enough when pubs are struggling under rising costs, regulatory burdens and declining patrons,” Mr Katter added. “In the end, it’s about more than beer. It’s about protecting our way of life, our towns, and the simple Aussie traditions that bind us together,” Mr Katter concluded. ENDS

“The people of Australia mourn for you” – Katter’s condolences

By Kahla Kruger • January 20, 2026
KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter extended his support to the Jewish community in Australia during a condolence motion in Parliament House today. The murder of so many innocent, everyday Australians, including the youngest - ten-year-old ‘Matilda’ – MUST be condemned at the highest level. Mr Katter said, “This wonderful little kid was murdered. “This lovely little girl called Matilda, whose parents had migrated to Australia and name their first child born in this country ‘Matilda’ as a tribute. My heart bleeds for them. This innocent little girl was shot dead by Islamic Extremists. “These murders were ‘known’ by the authorities, yet they were allowed to stay here and fester with their extreme beliefs, they were allowed to obtain weapons, they were allowed to travel overseas and return after ‘training’, and they ended up carrying out a horrific act of terrorism. There was a clear failure of the immigration authorities, ASIO, and the NSW Labor Government – firearm licensing. I’ll bet they don’t miss a night’s sleep over it.” In paying homage to the victims of the Bondi massacre, Mr Katter extended his support on behalf of the Australian people, but slammed the bodies responsible. “The people of Australia, they mourn for you,” he said. “Who was responsible for that murder, a couple of rabid bloody lunatics. We have got mad dogs everywhere, but the question must be who let those mad dogs into the country? “The first person that is guilty is the immigration department, and the Minister Tony Burke has to take responsibility for what occurred, which he has not done. “Secondly, ASIO had them on the watchlist and yet they were still allowed to collect three high powered rifles that are registered. What is the point in having an ASIO if you allow these people to have high powered rifles? This is a gang that couldn’t shoot straight. They are an absolute disgrace to the government. “Thirdly, the NSW government. The Liberal government when in power, refused to give this person on an ASIO watch list, a gun licence. Within months of the Labor party taking office, he gets his firearms licence and he gets three guns. “What, does he belong to the western Sydney clay shooting club does he? What… does he go shooting deer on the outskirts of Sydney does he? What could he possibly want the guns for? “So, the NSW government can take full responsibility for what has occurred. And my message to them is, don’t hide because YOU are responsible.” Mr Katter lashed unvetted mass immigration but cautioned that it wasn’t the “religion” to blame. “I must say that it isn’t the Islamic “religion”. Our neighbours the Indonesians are a Muslim country and they are excellent people. “The rabid mad dogs that have been allowed into this country have been from the Middle East and north Africa. “There are four wars going on there at last count. They are either killing each other or killing other people. “They attacked kids having a good time at a music festival and then they pulled the same stunt here in Australia. I spit upon them. And the people responsible for bringing them into this country have not been yarded and they need to be yarded.” ENDS

Katter slams Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism Bill

By Kahla Kruger • January 15, 2026