Media Release

AUSTRALIANS are realising we have a lack of vital medical equipment (gowns, hand sanitizer, ventilators, masks and gloves) due in part to the fact that we do not manufacture domestically.

Kennedy MP, Bob Katter said if the suppliers were Australian factories then naturally we would give first preference to Australia.

“If this runs its course as it has in Spain and northern Italy then you are looking at thousands of deaths,” he said.

“Your federal LNP government decided to free trade; they said we could buy it cheaper, well now we can't buy it at all.

“Now I read that our rum distillers and ethanol producers are dedicating resources to the production of hand sanitizer.

“I have been screaming for years for ethanol. When it comes to our national security there is only one answer; Australia must produce its own fuel. And the thing about Australia is that we can be self-sufficient tomorrow and Hells Gates will produce 7% of Australia’s fuel.”

Mr Katter said once federal parliament returns in August he will establish an inquiry into what essential services have not been available due to the Coronavirus pandemic, owing to foreign ownership, foreign supply lines or offshoring of the service.

“That includes everything from parts for water and sewage pumps, call centres for the banks, airlines and insurance companies and as mentioned earlier vital medical equipment,” he said.

“The chickens are coming home to roost; we’ve even seen photos of baby formula being shipped from Australia to China when Australian mothers can’t buy it in our supermarkets for their own kids.

“You can blame successive governments and their free market ideology over the last 30 years for this.

“Thank the good Lord for our cattle and grain industries. And as for fruit and vegetables, well the major suppliers have had a picnic. According to the ABS we import more than we export.

“You disagree? Well go ask the ABS. We have been a net importer of food for the last five or six years.”

—ENDS—