The KAP’s court-ordered Circuit Breaker Relocation Sentencing policy to address youth crime has pleasingly been adopted, with the rollout funded into future budgets, yet confidence in the full construction of CopperString remains as low as ever, the Leader of the KAP and state Member for Traeger Robbie Katter has said, digesting the 2026-27 Queensland State Budget.
Court-ordered Circuit Breaker Relocation Sentencing will continue to rollout, with $80 million allocated.
“We’ve welcomed the government’s approach to rolling out court-ordered Circuit Breaker Relocation Sentencing, something the KAP first offered to Queensland more than a decade ago,” Mr Katter said.
“The most important components to the rollout are court-ordered, and remote.
“The KAP will be watching closely to make sure the roll out remains on track and truly gives judges sentencing options that will arrest the ongoing crime crisis,” the KAP leaders said.
CopperString received $420 million for the next financial year, bringing the total allocated to $3.25 billion, yet there is nothing to give confidence that the Western Link from Hughenden to Mount Isa will be built.
“Words are still cheap – the North West Minerals Province is desperate for confidence in CopperString and there is still no confidence! Mr Katter said.
“While the headlines and money thrown at consultants continue, there is no change from the debacle of Labor’s rollout of the biggest project in Queensland outside the South East.
“The government must announce the timeline to build the western link. Not just talk about doing it one day,” the Member for Traeger said.
In other welcome announcements, Mount Isa received an announced new Emergency Psychiatric Care Unit, and $4.2 million for the Miners Memorial, $12 million in utilities for housing in Burketown and Normanton, as well as water treatment upgrades for Doomadgee and Mornington Island.
“It’s easy, and important to look at the funding allocated to various projects, but budgets are as much about what isn’t funded,” Mr Katter said.
“What we still don’t have are crossings to stop Burketown and Doomadgee from being cut off for three months each year during floods. We don’t have a new Gilbert River bridge. We don’t have certainty for the 50 or more housing units in Charters Towers desperate to serve the community gripped by a housing crisis.
“Communities like Cloncurry, Hughenden, and Charters Towers, are force to continue to use decades old, aging hospitals, and Mount Isa is bursting at the seams.
“And while the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme has had the travel component modestly increased, both the accommodation and travel rates remain fundamentally inadequate.
”It’s clear that the Government are more focussed on the Olympics and chasing Brisbane votes than investing in the regions, from where they won government,” the KAP leader said.