Media Release

KAP Federal Leader and Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has used his final Question Time opportunity in the 43rd Parliament of Australia to once again draw the nation’s attention to the desperate crisis of North Qld’s cattlemen, who Mr Katter described as “at the coalface of a rapidly escalating national rural debt crisis”.

Mr Katter yesterday asked the Treasurer if he could advise the House why – “whilst cattlemen shoot dying cattle and suffer the trauma of pending foreclosures” – the Qld Government was still not acting to release $420m of federal concessional loan assistance provided to the states in April, given that it was now June.

“Given we are now five months into this crisis and there is still no significant action from Queensland, can (the Treasurer) redirect the $420 million to a reconstruction fund, thus facilitating farm access to government interest rates of 3 per cent?” Mr Katter asked in Question Time.

Mr Katter said he felt it had been one of the most productive periods of his political career with:-

• the formation of the Rural Debt Roundtable Summit committee with the Treasurer; and
• the formation of the Cattlemen’s Crisis Council after the North Qld summit; which precipitated
• federal funding of $420m for concessional loans (maybe 2% to take over 8% commercial rates), and $100m to give drought-affected farmers access to Newstart;
• continuing discussions with the Indonesian Ambassador helping to secure an unlimited quota on processed meat, and first half-year live cattle quota of 270,000 head (last year’s half-year quota was 190,000 compared to 350,00 pre-live export ban – but it could still be no quota for second-half 2013);
• a halt on land rent increases secured by the Cattlemen’s Crisis Council; and
• the Reserve Bank for the first time in 20 years acknowledging an issue with the $AUD, a statement which combined with an interest rate cut of 0.25% tumbled the value of the $AUD.

“The progress with the Ambassador in the re-opening of the Indonesian market and the acknowledgment from the RBA are qualitative giant leaps forward,” said Mr Katter.

“But it’s still only fight-back – we’re far from where we need to be.

“We need to address long-term fundamentals, which include bringing down the value of the Australian dollar that is continuing to destroy the industry. Our dollar was driven up from 52c to 90c under the LNP, then another 20c higher under this Labor Government – halving the price of our cattle every year for the past decade.

“We also need Australian politicians to vote for legislation we have this week put into the Parliament, to establish an ‘Australian Reconstruction and Development Board’, which can reconstruct debilitating financial arrangements in agriculture and provide low-interest, long term funds for the further development of our agricultural industries and infrastructures.

“Meanwhile, cattle stations have been destroyed by fire and drought, there are 200,000 head ready for sale with nobody to sell them to, and still not one cent from the Qld Government.

“We’ve got just 10 per cent of what we need to see this industry thrive again. Is it too much to ask, for a fair go?”