Media Release

KAP Leader and Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter condemns the Federal Member for Leichardt over loss of a vital $2 billion shipbuilding contract to Perth instead of Cairns.

“Obviously the Western Australian Ministers and MPs have a driving commitment to secure jobs and industry for their region prior to an election, where as it appears the Member for Leichardt is a eunuch,” said Mr Katter.

The contract of building 21 Pacific Class Patrol boats holds hundreds of jobs and is reported to be worth $2 billion.

In September last year, Mr Katter met with key players in the Cairns-based consortium for the bid.

Following the meeting, Mr Katter made representation to senior Cabinet Ministers in support of the consortium, listed as follow: Minister for Immigration, Minister for Defence, Minister for Northern Australia and the Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development.

Mr Katter urged the Government to consider Cairns’ strategic geographic location, existing capacity and infrastructure, skill bank and maritime culture.

Mr Katter believes politics got in the way of Cairns securing the much needed contract:

“This is a big political win for Warren Entsch and a great ceremonial loss for Cairns. He has got clean away with it. I ask the bid consortium to reflect back when I said, ‘this has to be a public battle or you’re going to lose’.

I call upon Warren Entsch to deny that he told the consortium to let him handle it and to keep Katter and everybody else, including Advance Cairns out.”

There could be no other reason why restraints were upon people like myself.

The bid group showed an attractive innocence in believing the Member for Leichardt would be loyal to them and not to his political ambitions.”

Mr Katter calls on the people of Cairns to disbelieve Mr Entsch’s faux rage against his own party’s decision to award the contract to Perth:

“I am unleashing fury against Warren Entsch. Either he is pathetically ineffective or alternatively, he has cold bloodedly sold out Far North QLD.

When I was Minister for Northern Development there were 2000 jobs in boat building and maintenance. I doubt there are even 200 jobs now. And his party has been in power for 13 of the last 16 years.

We would have has a fair chance of winning this if we’d unleashed on the Government which Warren Entsch used his influence to stop.

The hypocrisy of the man crying and howling after he restrained our thrust on this… and now we have nothing”