March 27, 2023
KATTER’S Australian Party MP Bob Katter delivered an electric speech in Federal Parliament on Monday lamenting the proposed collapse of a 200,000-job industry through the latest Safeguard Mechanism Bill amendments.
“This bill is bad for our economy, bad for our jobs, bad for our hip pocket and bad for the global environment,” Mr Katter said.
The latest amendments to the Government’s climate policy will legislate a hard emissions cap on coal and gas projects, while restricting the industry’s expansion, effectively “squeezing” them to death in another “venomous attack” on coal, he said.
The North Queensland MP said the Safeguard Mechanism Bill was ideologically driven and “was not coming from reality and not coming from the needs of the people (cheap, reliable energy).”
“Now you want to cold bloodedly go and destroy the jobs of 200,000 people.
“And I sure would like some of our so-called trade union leaders to stand up here because, it seems to me I'm one of the very few that's standing up.
“It's alright for everybody here, with a nice warm job and their $250,000 a year.”
Mr Katter said during the election campaign he was appreciative of the Prime Minister saying that there would be no power stations closed and there would be no coal mines closed.
“Now China and India are buying Australian coal, and if you think a tiny little European country is going to tell them that they're not going to have cheap electricity, you believe in the tooth fairy.
“In India, they have no ability to be able to put solar, and they've got very little hyrdo.
“In China, they're laughing at us, they're producing the solar panels and sending them to Australia, while they're reported to be building 200 coal-fired power stations.
“So keep going the way you're going, but 200,000 Australians depend upon this industry and just remember that you're sacking them and there's nowhere else to go because we've got no industry left in this country. There is not one single thing being done by this government or the last government to create industry in this country.
“Nothing, there's nothing on the scoreboard.”