Media Release

KAP Leader and Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter today called the signing of the Free Trade Agreement with China the “death warrant” of manufacturing in Australia, all the while delivering no benefit to Australia’s struggling agricultural industries.

“I’ve never had a complaint in the last 15 years about the fact that we can’t already get any of these items into China.

“The Chinese, like the Americans, are pretty easy to deal with, we asked them to change protocols with beef and they changed them.

“The American Free Trade Agreement was going to save us all, but for our dairy and sugar producers, the benefit was quantified the cost of an ice cream per week.

“There was no benefit to the cattlemen, we already had an open market all the time.

“This is just more hot air from the free market fundamentalists and their slithering suits in Sydney.

“Quite frankly, we’re being robbed, and there is no pun intended here.

“When it comes to dairy, we’re told that our producers will have tariffs lifted on infant formula in four years’ time and on all other dairy products within eleven years’ time.

“Well that might help our grandkids in the dairy industry, if we even have a dairy industry left then.

“My venom and spite on this knows no bound, the Government keeps touting this as assistance to farmers, but it delivers absolutely no benefit and instead delivers the death warrant on Australia’s manufacturing industry,” Mr Katter said.