Media Release

Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter today seized on the title of ‘Chief Scaremonger’ over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), following a study released by the World Bank that demonstrates the TPP Agreement would only boost Australia’s economy by 0.7% by the year 2030.

A Productivity Commission report in 2010 found little evidence from businesses that Australia’s free trade agreements had generated significant commercial benefit to Australia.

Yet Trade Minister Andrew Robb this week labelled opponents of the TPP Agreement ‘scaremongers’.

“The Government keeps pressing ahead talking about foreign investment as if it’s a good thing – when we all know it’s just selling your country off because your country’s broke and the Government’s broke and the only way to get out of trouble is to sell off the assets,” Mr Katter said.

“Instead of trading aggressively and collectively, we have the weakest trading position of any country on earth.

“Our official interest rates are a 1,000 per cent higher than the rest of the world.
“Our dollar is double what it was on the two times we had a free float under Paul Keating and Peter Costello.

“The Woolworths and Coles phenomenon continues – they have 90 per cent of the market in Australia versus the big two anywhere else in the world who have under 23 per cent.

“The rest of the world enjoys 41% support levels for agriculture – yet in Australia it’s only 6% support.

“And manufacturing – well it’s all gone. There is no capital investment by Government, no motor vehicles produced, no white goods produced – no manufacturing left in the country.

“We allow slave labour produced goods into the country without any tariffs or restrictions on them whatsoever.

“And yet here we are again with the Government running around touting this Agreement as if it’s a good thing, but these figures are not by us – but by the World Bank.

“So we take Mr Robb’s comments and we want to claim the Crown as the ‘Chief Scaremonger’ in the country.

“Because unless people get scared and are prepared to throw these half-wits out of Government, then this nation is going to be living in grinding poverty.

“They are going to have to buy everything from overseas and yet there’s nothing to sell overseas – we’re down to iron ore and coal, and both of them are b*****d.

“We should always learn from history – because guess what Chamberlain called Churchill in 1939 – a scaremonger,” Mr Katter said.