Media Release

THE Australian Party state and federal leaders have today come out in strong support of Dean Mighell, the Victorian State Secretary of the Electrical Trade Union, following attacks by the ETU National office over his endorsement of the party at its inaugural convention last weekend.*

Australian Party state leader, Aidan McLindon, dubbed Mr Mighell a true patriot and fearless representative for his members and all skilled workers across the nation.

"He is a national hero and a man of true conviction. When you’re going in to a fight you want Dean beside you. You know he’ll watch your back and never let you down. He knows he is there to serve his members; he knows who his mates are," said Mr McLindon.

Federal leader Bob Katter said any ETU leader who stood up for the ALP after they sold off state assets following the last election were "dogs" whose membership was "already savaging them".

"In Queensland, the ETU is still affiliated with the ALP. They’re still part of the ALP. I can't count the amount of calls I’ve had from local ETU members disgusted in their state leadership. And we are collecting names of those people who feel so strongly," said Mr Katter.

"Four of our candidates are strongly ETU – ask the ALP how many they’ve got."

The Australian Party has vowed to block any further sell-off of state assets and to ensure the electricity industry is not privatised.

"We are the only party that opposes the sale of state assets, which cost 14,000 jobs in the Victoria. We are the only party that believes in an arbitration price for wages and farmers, and accessing arbitration without a strike," said Mr Katter.

"As we talk, the ALP in Canberra still won’t abolish coercive powers now."

In his address to the Australian Party convention, the ETU boss acknowledged that standing beside Bob Katter may have once seemed most unlikely.

"Twenty years ago, you really couldn’t have imagined it. But the world has changed and there is more common with us now than there has ever been. The enemy (are) the multi-national companies that think they can throw our farmers off the land, that think they can treat working people with absolute disrespect, that think they can rob our kids of a future" said Mr Mighell.

"I urge and plead with all Queensland workers: look outside the crap you’ve been dealt by the ALP, who no longer care about your jobs or your rights, who will sell and privatise your industry and rip your communities apart. There is a party that stands for the better, and that’s the Australian Party."

The Australian Party is proud to have the support of Dean Mighell and the Victorian ETU, and is expected to announce more union support in coming weeks.