Media Release

KAP Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter has reiterated the vehement opposition of State MPs Ray Hopper, Rob Katter and Shane Knuth to the sale of Ergon Energy.

Mr Katter suggests the LNP/ALP Corporation should reflect on the rules of Monopoly – keep your utilities and gain money, sell your utilities and you’re on a slippery slope to bankruptcy.

"Queenslanders deserve better. It’s not a matter of if, but when hard working Queensland families will be forced to buy a house generator, because when the electricity blacks out, there won’t be anyone there to fix it."

This is the harsh reality if Ergon Energy is placed in private hands.

"God help the young people trying to get into new developments. Your electricity costs will triple ours in Australia."

The Member for Mount Isa Rob Katter is in campaign chorus calling this recent sale intention ‘The desperate actions of a government bereft of ideas’.

"They will always default to selling assets as this is all they have in their playbook for building revenue.

"We believe in building industry-stimulating assets. Queensland should be engaged in overseeing the construction of transmission lines, roads and rail projects, not selling them off. This is how our great State was built and how we will continue to prosper.

"The privatisation model hasn't worked anywhere else and there is no expectation that it would be any different here. This is a short term cash grab from selling assets that are not the LNP's to sell.

"Who can believe anything that the ALP says about asset sales when they provide no viable alternative for balancing the books in Queensland. They are just as guilty as the LNP when it comes to shutting industry down.

Member for Dalrymple Shane Knuth also agrees saying ‘The Treasurer is frothing at the mouth in desperation to privatise our energy assets.

"When the Bligh Government sold the retail arm of our energy sector, the then Treasurer wanted to sell the lot.

"You don’t have to be Einstein to work out the LNP have the same DNA to privatise.

"As a matter of fact, it is the LNP’s belief that no assets should belong to the State and that these assets are better of owned by foreign multinational corporations to make a profit at our expense.

"We are determined to remove corporatisation and privatisation and a return of our energy assets back to full public ownership.

"It is only then that we will see fair electricity pricing."