Katter’s Kennedy Federal budget wrap - 2024
May 14, 2024
KATTER’S Australian Party MP Bob Katter has expressed his disappointment with the 2024 Federal Budget with very few Kennedy-specific funding allocations announced.
Mr Katter while there were some positives for regional Australia, which would capture Kennedy, the details on funding were few and far between.
He said overall, the budget lacked long-term vision, and critical details towards real actionable initiatives. Instead, there was increased funding for government departments to “improve regulatory compliance, or streamline workforces, or develop new reporting systems.”
He welcomed the parts of the government’s Future Made in Australia fund which provided funding for critical minerals and their processing, as well as “low carbon fuel” such as ethanol, but again, lacked succinct detail.
“The 2024 Budget will do little more than limp the government to the next election, providing no serious reform and offer little more than a few lollies,” Mr Katter said.
Cost of living
- Stage 3 tax cuts – averaging about $36 per week. Plus reduce the 19 per cent tax rate to 16 per cent, reduce 32.5 per cent tax rate to 30 per cent and increase the 37 per cent tax rate threshold from $120,000 to $135,000.
- $300 energy bill relief.
- Waiving $3bn in student debt, or which is less than $1300 for the average student.
“Disappointing that Government has missed the opportunity for real reform to assist families with differing incomes through income splitting options that would allow an income to be split before the tax is assessed between the working parent and the stay-at-home parent.
“Such a measure would reduce the tax burden on families with dependants and allow them to have similar tax burdens, relative to their joint incomes, to those couples that have dual incomes and no kids.
“And for electricity, there should be no reason its costs more than $700 per year, by introducing a Reserved Resource Policy.
Grocery prices
- Government will fund market competition organisation CHOICE for three years to produce quarterly price comparison reports for consumers. First report at end of June.
- For farmers and suppliers, government is looking at making the Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory and introducing penalties of up to 10 per cent of turnover for breaches.
“How giving consumers will benefit from having a ‘choice’ of where they shop based on a quarterly survey is beyond me, and making the Grocery Code of Conduct mandatory, after all the major grocers were already signatories, will do little for suppliers.”
Housing
- Total $32bn housing spend under this government with the latest including $9bn split between each state and territory for social housing, and $1bn for housing infrastructure.
- $19.7m over six years to support housing research, fast-track feasibility studies on the release of Commonwealth land for social housing.
- Commonwealth rent assistance increase by 10 per cent.
“We have the land, we just need a government with a vision that looks beyond further crowding the major cities.
“Again no deadlines on when these social homes will be built, yet nothing to assist the supply of housing in the private sector.”
Defence
- $17.5m over ten years to establish a new Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence to support increased oversight, transparency, and accountability of the portfolio.
- $186m over four years to reduce the time taken to process veterans’ claims.
- $1bn over three years for long-range firearms, fuel resilience and robotic systems.
- $35m to upgrade ADF bases in Northern Australia – primarily Townsville.
“This is a substantial sum of money and we must make sure we are getting value,” Mr Katter said.
“A clear message must be sent to the world that we are serious about protecting ourselves and our way of living.
“It’s hard to provide such a message when we have successive governments that allows for the foreign acquisition of strategic assets, including our ports, electricity providers, communication networks, banks, airlines, airports and vast tracts of our land.”
“If we are to spend $330 billion on security we should also revise the foreign acquisition strategy and start reclaiming our most important assets,” said Mr Katter.
Roads and transport
- $1bn for the Roads to Recovery Program
- $200m for the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program
- $154m over six years to implement the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard including $84m over five years to establish a regulator and $10m on awareness campaign.
- $101m over five years for remote and regional airstrips.
“I encourage all councils in my electorate to apply for the Roads to Recovery Program, and I’m confident we can secure the funding for the completion of the Hann Hwy, benefiting producers throughout North Queensland.
“As for the vehicle efficiency standard, the government must realise this will impact more than just the people out bush. There are plenty of people in regional cities like Townsville and Cairns, throughout Australia, that enjoy four-wheel drives who will be unfairly punished with this standard.”
Infrastructure
- $2.2bn to enhance connectivity, and increase accessibility and reliability of South East Queensland transport networks.
- A total infrastructure contribution of $21.6bn for Queensland, of that $1.2bn will go to the Sunshine Coast Rail Line, and just $467m for the Bruce Hwy corridor.
- National Water Grid - $174m over six years for new water infrastructure projects.
$592.3 million over five years from 2023–24 for the Paradise Dam Improvement project, the Big Rocks Weir project and the Hughenden Irrigation Scheme has been deferred.
“What a joke! This package is beyond disappointing, it includes nothing ‘nation building,’ nothing that will generate economic growth, nothing that will create more than a few jobs.
“In Kennedy public transport is almost non-existent. We have some of the worse roads in Australia. The only access to the land west of the diving range and literally crumbling. Budget after budget we see more money siphoned from the regions and given to the cities for grandiose white-elephant projects.”
Health
- Previously announced tripling of bulk billing system remains - $3.5bn.
- $17m over the next year to boost support of healthcare in areas of shortage including GPs. ‘
- $2.2bn over five years for aged care, with most going towards administration initiatives including improving regulation and compliance, but including $531m to release 24,100 additional home care packages.
- An additional 29 Medicare Urgent Care clinics.
“This increased funding is applauded. It is hoped that this will ensure those that live outside major cities will have improved access to essential health services.”
Agriculture
- $519m over eight years for the Future Drought Fund initiatives including education and farming practices incentives to boost drought preparedness, online climate tools.
- $1m over two years for a skilled agricultural work liaison pilot to attract graduates to work in agriculture.
- $1.5m to improve accuracy and labelling of plant-based alternative protein products.
- Already 75 per cent sheep gone, 23 per cent of cattle is gone due to deregulations. The wokie green brigade are at it again to please their ideology.
- $107m to help farmers and the supply chain transition away from live sheep exports, yet this package also includes $2.6m to improve sheep welfare standards.
- $32m over four years for programs protecting water security in the Great Artesian Basin.
“Besides some funding for the GAB, and potential funding for actual drought relief, this is again woke ideology running its course, destroying agriculture.”
Energy and Environment
- $5m over the next year for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to engage tourism operators to conduct reef monitoring and protection.
- $7bn over four years to Snowy Hydro to support continued construction.
“As for the Marine Park Authority, well the government has already destroyed all our industries out there with Spanish Mackerel bans and gillnet bans so there’s not much left to protect.
“And is it any surprise Snowy is the only power generation they’re funding. While we’ve got 9000mw of baseload power going off, we’ve only got one, delayed, source coming online.
Social and welfare
- $161m over four years to develop and implement a National Firearms Register. “Once established police will know where firearms are, who owns them and what the risks are.”
“To be disarming people while crime is at all time high is unconscionable.”
- $288m over four years to support the delivery of the Digital ID system.
“May I just remind our government how unreliable digital systems are; with traditional banking, how often would a bank get robbed? Hardly ever, now with digital banking there’s problems every week with hackers.”
- · $1.1bn over four years to pay superannuation on Paid Parental Leave.
“I support this incentive.”
Telecommunications
- $150m for the Black Spot Program
“We must urge all councils to apply for the money. The more requests that go in the better.”
Education
- $88m over three years for 20,000 new fee-free training places through TAFE.
- $5.3m over two years for the Good to Great Schools Australia Pilot program which claims it will benefit outer regional and remote schools to lift their education outcomes.
Other
- $48m over the next year for ASIC to sustain operational activities and “enhance its core capabilities.”
- $35m to the Director of Public Prosecutions to strengthen capacity to undertake criminal prosecutions.
Support
- $14.2m over two years to improve community safety in Alice Springs and surrounds.
“Why can’t we then get money to solve North Queensland’s crime problem with outback camps – relocation sentencing.”
- $1bn over five years to address migration backlogs, which includes $115m over four years to establish two migration hubs dedicated to hearing migration and protection matters, currently before the courts.
KENNEDY MP Bob Katter thanked the Federal Government, particularly Minister for Industry, Tim Ayres, for his announcement today, but he warned the $600 million over three years jointly funded investment was going to limp Mount Isa along till the next election. “We must put on record our appreciation of the involvement by the Minister. Robbie Katter said the Premier too has been helpful, but this game is not over. It is just starting. This proposal is a Band-Aid on a compound fracture. It might staunch the bleeding but it ain’t going to fix your leg. “We must thank all the people who came to our meetings and put shoulder to the wheel here. Thank you to all fighters for their role in achieving this stay of execution, particularly the Mayor of Mount Isa, Peta McRae, Townsville Enterprise Limited, CEO, Claudia Brunne Smith, Paul Farrow from the AWU, Maria James, CEO of MITEZ and all those other fighters who have not slept a wink over the past few months in their effort to save our town and Townsville’s industrial base. “To Glencore I say congratulations for out-negotiating not one government, but two. I take my hat off to them, these two governments have made a $600m bet that Queensland’s minerals economy is going to be much stronger by the time the next election comes around. How convenient. “Another phrase comes to mind. Danegeld. For those that aren’t familiar with this, it was a tax levied by the Anglo-Saxons to pay off Viking invaders of England. “We will eager learn more about this ‘transition authority’ they have proposed. “We are pleased to be fighting another day but are fired up by this decision and it has made us more aggressively and relentless on pursuing a reserve resource policy for gas. A $600 million Band-Aid is helpful, but we need an outcome that solves the source of the problem.” Mr Katter said he that he raised the issue with Minister Ayres when he visited his office late last night to discuss Mount Isa. “Look, I thank the federal Minister who really has been very good to deal with on the Mount Isa smelter, unless he makes Reserve Resource Policy his next item, we are doomed and Glencore will continue to seek bailouts, after bailouts, just as they did in 2016, 2020 and have again now.” ENDS i] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-23/mount-isa-copper-smelter-life-renewed-operating-three-more-years/12639234
Bob discussed the gumtree movement on the latest episode of the Pub Test Podcast.
Image: Mr Katter in Canberra with his Chief of Staff, Kahla Kruger, and his Parliamentary Chief of Staff, Elise Nucifora
KAP Federal Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter has applauded the Albanese’s $1 billion “Future Made in Australia” biofuels announcement but said that successive former Labor and LNP Governments deserve the “cane” for failing to see the ethanol potential and letting oil companies run rampant around the country. “Prior to 1992, 98 percent of our fuel requirements were produced in Australia,” Mr Katter said. “Then Keating got control out from Hawke, and free marketed the Australian economy and it was like taking the steering wheel out of the car. The industry collapsed. Costello was just as much to blame. “For 20 years, both major parties have spat in the face of ethanol. They’ve ignored the farmers, ignored the mills, ignored the science. Now, with the stroke of a pen, they’ve suddenly found religion in biofuels. Well, it’s better late than never, and we thank them for their efforts here,” Mr Katter said. In the last parliamentary term, Mr Katter moved his Sovereign Fuel Security Bill, which would see Australia aim to become approximately 80 percent self-sufficient in fuel, reducing dependence on imports. He warned that without serious action, Australia’s fuel supply is vulnerable, fuel and fertiliser costs will remain crushing for farmers, and Australia’s industrial and regional communities will suffer. “Farmers are paying 100 percent increases on two major cost input items, fuel and fertiliser. Electricity has also gone up 300 percent. “You just can’t keep farming under these conditions; we must bring down fuel and fertiliser costs if farmers are to survive. "Ten hectares of sugar cane produces over 10,000 litres of ethanol, and for every hectare of cane planted, 72 ton of carbon dioxide is pulled from the atmosphere. This stuff is pure magic. We can replace imported oil with home-grown fuel, cut emissions, and build up regional economies all at once. “We need an enforceable ethanol mandate, not another round of studies and subsidies that vanish after the election. Every other major country on earth, including Brazil and the United States, mandate ethanol. So why are we the last? “We need ethanol, and we need it now. But we need to make sure we don’t see a repeat of the ethanol mandate in Queensland where none of the oil companies that owned the petrol stations provided the infrastructure needed to offer ethanol. It should be legislated that these service stations will need be retrofitted to have ethanol capability as part of any biofuel industry.” Mr Katter warned that Australia’s fuel storage supplies have diminished over the years which puts Australia at a national security risk, further demonstrating a sovereign fuel security necessity. “The Government has said we have 30 days fuel supply, but I don’t even think it will last three days if there’s a situation where our fuel trade pathways are cut off. We must have supply of electricity and fuel if we are to survive as a country.” “When the NRMA blew the whistle on this extraordinary situation, Angus Taylor under direction of his cabinet, put our fuel supplies in Texas, USA. I mean, how utterly absurd! That shows you the level of competence in our governments.” ENDS https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/labor-earmarks-11bn-for-future-made-in-australia-biofuels-industry/news-story/e24cf62bada7edf93fe5c32c57db1837 https://www.bobkatter.com.au/govts-inaction-on-fuel-security-leaves-australia-vulnerable https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-22/government-to-buy-fuel-secure-national-stockpile/12173276
KENNEDY MP, Bob Katter, has today penned and delivered letters to the Minister for Agriculture, Julie Collins, the Minister for Local Government and Emergency Management, Kristy McBain, and the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, calling for urgent federal assistance to control the locust plague currently tearing through Queensland’s mid-west. Mr Katter said the outbreak is “decimating pastures and crops, piling new misery on producers who are still reeling from repeated natural disasters in recent years.” “In the Julia Creek floods of 2019, a hundred million dollars of federal funding may well have saved a thousand million dollars’ worth of cattle and maybe a hundred million a year in lost production,” Mr Katter said “It is a classic example of the adage “a stitch in time saves nine” and Government needs to return to the agility that it had in years past.” In his letter, Mr Katter stressed that local councils have sounded the alarm and urgently require additional resources to manage and contain the locust infestation. “This plague has caused widespread damage to grazing country and cropping areas. Our producers are already battling from floods, fires, and droughts. They cannot be left to shoulder this crisis on their own,” Mr Katter wrote. The correspondence calls for consideration of redirecting unspent funds from the 2019 North-West flood cattle disaster relief package, which Mr Katter says remain idle in Treasury. “Our understanding is that there was an underspend from the 2019 flood recovery program, and those leftover funds, which have been accruing interest, are still sitting in Treasury. We’re simply asking that, at the very least, this interest be made available to support councils and landholders in fighting the locust plague now, and to strengthen long-term weed and pest management,” Mr Katter said. The letter also pointed out that the Commonwealth has previously committed $20 million for pest and weed control in the south-west region and urged the Government to deliver an equivalent level of support for the North-West. Mr Katter said the Treasurer’s role would be central to any immediate solution. “Treasurer, your leadership and swift action will be vital in helping our communities manage this crisis and protect Queensland’s vital agricultural industry. Effective measures must be implemented without delay.” Mr Katter reiterated that the issue is time-critical, with the potential to wipe out productivity in one of the nation’s most important cattle and cropping regions.
Standing in front of the acid plant in Mount Isa, Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter and Queensland State Member for Traeger Robbie Katter threw their full support behind APLNG’s call for a domestic gas reserve policy, labelling the move “long overdue,” while taking aim at the Australian Energy Producers peak body for pushing to delay any action until 2031. “We’re selling our country’s gas for six cents a unit and buying it back for $16.60, how dumb are we?” Mr Katter said. “We don’t make money shipping it overseas. It’s time we stop exporting our energy advantage and start looking after our own people and industry.” APLNG’s support for a Reserve Resource Policy (RRP) marks a key moment of alignment between resource giants and the KAP, who have long warned that Australia’s failure to secure domestic energy supply would decimate critical regional industries. “Three-quarters of what you see in Mount Isa relies on gas for chemical production, for metals processing, for power. Without a reserve policy, three-quarters of this industry vanishes,” Mr Katter warned. Mr Katter recalled agreements made during his time in government, where gas was secured at $6 per unit for 25 years. But those contracts expired decades ago, and without a domestic reserve, Australians now pay nearly three times more to buy their own gas back from exporters. “We had a deal. We switched from gas to coal, locked in a price of $6 a unit. That deal’s long gone. Now, we’re paying $16.60 for our own gas. Meanwhile, Qatar earns $29 billion a year from gas exports. We export the same amount and get only $600 million. This is how dumb we are.” Mr Katter also raised concerns about the foreign ownership of major Australian assets, including ports and critical mining infrastructure. “Newcastle is owned by China. Mount Isa is owned by Zurich. Is there anything left that we actually own? If you’re going to sell your country off, at the very least, make sure we get a quid out of it.” The Katters are urging both federal and state governments to immediately implement a domestic gas reserve policy – not in 2031, but now – to protect Australian industry, regional jobs, and the nation’s energy security. ENDS
The weekly summaries include the legislative and policy movements within Parliament as well as happenings around the electorate and Bob's position on the big issues facing Australia. KATTER’S CHIEFS WEEKLY WRAP AUSTRALIA’S DEPENDENCE ON FUEL IMPORTS MUST STOP We must build Australian oil refineries and convert our sugar mills to produce ethanol Our fuel can, and should, be made in Australia and affordable. 🌾⛏️ 🚫 STOP YOUR STUPID ADS AND FIX OUR FRI#^*N MOBILE RECEPTION 🚫 Our regions are being DISCONNECTED due to a bungled 3G to 5G switchover. Telstra has an UNIVERSAL SERVICE OBLIGATION. So, stop spending millions on stupid ads and deliver this essential service!!!! 🥁🇦🇺 MIGRATION MUST STOP 🇦🇺🥁 March on 31 August, not because of hate, but because we LOVE our country. All future migrants MUST VALUE the Australian way of life and belief system. 💰BANKING BANDITS ABANDON THE NORTH 💰 Closures of Bendigo Bank branches at Tully and Malanda are a devastating blow. WE MUST KEEP OUR BANKING SERVICES, PROVIDING A PEOPLES BANK AT POST OFFICES. 🥳🎂 Happy Birthday, Karl Stefanovic 🎂 🥳 Karl’s a Crack Clay Shot and a good bloke. 🏥⛏️🤠🌾 🍻 HUGHENDEN, JULIA CREEK - LANDS OF OPPORTUNITY Yarns with salt of the earth legends who are the true meaning of “community”. 💐💐80TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY IN THE PACIFIC💐💐 We MUST NOT forget. We must teach in our schools the stories of the people that died to prevent the invasion of their country.
Federal Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter has today paid tribute to the late Sir Leo Hielscher in the Federation Chamber of Parliament, ahead of the revered public servant’s state funeral to be held in Brisbane tomorrow. “Queensland was once the Cinderella state of Australia,” Mr Katter said. “We had virtually no coalmining, very little mineral wealth, few cattle, we had nothing. And then Joh Bjelke-Petersen became Premier, with Sir Leo Hielscher by his side, the transformation began.” Mr Katter credited Hielscher’s leadership and bold economic vision as the catalyst for Queensland becoming the world’s largest coal-exporting region, a global copper and aluminium powerhouse, and home to quadrupled agricultural output. “These were men who strained every nerve, muscle and sinew to build a better life for Queenslanders. That's how they were driven, not to save the planet or for some other ideological pursuit—which future generations will laugh at on a grand scale. No; these people were serious people.” In Parliament, Mr Katter recalled the visionary infrastructure programs driven by Hielscher, including massive investments in coal ports, railway lines, and power stations. “They built the biggest power station in the world at Gladstone and fuelled it with free coal. That gave us the cheapest electricity on Earth, and one of the biggest aluminium industries on Earth.” Reflecting on Sir Leo’s legacy, Katter said: “Public servants, normally, are bad. They do terrible things; they stop anything from happening and they make our lives miserable. There are very rare exceptions; Leo Hielscher was one of them. He made things happen. Two of the six biggest bridges in Australia are named after him, and rightly so.” In September 2023, Mr Katter had the privilege of tabling in Parliament Sir Leo Hielscher’s blueprint to achieve “the Australian Dream”, The Great Queensland Dividing Range Scheme, to irrigate and flourish inland Australia and make these communities rich and diverse in their productivity. “These were truly great men. These were men of freedom, vision and action. If you went in there with some restrictions and petty little rules and regulations, you would have been laughed out of their offices. Sir Leo Hielscher leaves behind an extraordinary legacy one that built modern Queensland.” ENDS
KATTER’S Australian Party Federal MP Bob Katter has welcomed the resignation of Powerlink’s CEO Paul Simshauser. Particularly if it means that somebody might actually take the bull by the horns and build the vital CopperString electricity link between Townsville and Mount Isa. “Two and a half years after the CopperString decision was approved – and still not a single order completed for the copper wire or the steel for the pylons,” Mr Katter said. “When I had the responsibility under the Bjelke-Petersen government, I built the transmission line from Cairns to Normanton in three years – and that was without the billions being thrown around today.” “I’m sick to death of Brisbane bureaucrats being paid an extortionate amount of taxpayers money to sit on their backsides and do nothing,” lamented Mr Katter.
FEDERAL Member for Kennedy, Bob Katter, has slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN in September, calling it “dangerous” and “not an Australian position.” “Israel is surrounded by over a million people in Muslim countries, many of which are committed to the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people. “We are told Israel’s retaliation has gone too far. But you can’t start a fight and then cry foul when there is backlash,” Mr Katter lamented. Mr Katter said the influence of “extreme Middle Eastern diaspora politics” on Western governments was growing rapidly, citing the situation in the UK, France and Canada. “France is almost under their political control, and a significant number of MPs in the UK Parliament have Middle Eastern backing. “If you think this won’t happen here in Australia, then think again. The Liberal and Labor parties have flung open the doors, allowing hundreds of thousands of migrants into Australia with no plan for assimilation. They are from countries with no democracy, no rule of law, no egalitarian traditions and a history of religious persecution. Migrants, many of which, are unable or unwilling to adopt our values and traditions bringing the problems of the countries they fled from onto our shores. “These are not small numbers. Many settle down in ethnic enclaves in Sydney and Melbourne and never become ‘Australians’ in any real sense.” The Member for Kennedy emphasised that his comments were not aimed at the Islamic religion, pointing to Australia’s strong relationship with Indonesia. “Our nearest neighbour, Indonesia, is overwhelmingly Muslim, and they are some of the best people I have dealt with in 50 years of public life. This is about history, values and behaviour. The Middle East has been in almost continuous warfare for 1,400 years. The only time they saw any peace was under the Crusaders.” Mr Katter said history made the choice clear. “On one side you have the Jewish people – persecuted for thousands of years yet thriving in a democracy that respects the rule of law. On the other, you have a region with an unbroken record of persecution against those of other beliefs. The Prime Minister and Penny Wong are dead wrong on this one. Australia should stand with Israel.” ENDS
