Newsroom

September 27, 2022

KENNEDY MP Bob Katter has come out as “Robbie Hood” for everyday, hard-working Australians.
“It can’t be fathomed how Parliament can give $245bn in tax cuts for the highest income earners, while North Queenslanders are struggling to make ends meet and put food on the table,” he said.

Dressed in metaphorical Lincoln Green, Bob will wield a sword through the proposed tax cuts for the rich and give to the poor - joining the Crossbench in seeking to repeal Treasury Laws Amendments (Stage 3 Tax Cuts) Bill.

Polar opposites on most things, Mr Katter agreed with Greens leader Adam Bandt that the tax cuts for the wealthy were unfair to everyday Australians.

In the Chamber on Monday, the North Queensland MP went even further and advised the Government how it could raise additional revenue by creating a tax on all imports, which could then be spent on make-money projects. It would also provide a break for Aussies who needed it the most.

“We can't afford to buy food. We can't afford to buy a house. We can't afford to buy a car. We subsidise the import of cars,” Mr Katter said.

“Even in North Queensland, I can now see people living in the streets. In the wealthiest country on earth, we have people living on the streets.

“Now, Malcolm Turnbull, no less, and an Australian professor who teaches at Oxford, in Britain, did a report on why housing costs are so enormous in Australia. It's because we can't get at the land.

“Your subdivisional impositions upon the people have skyrocketed the land in Charters Towers, a good example to use. Government intervention in the marketplace, imposing ridiculous conditions that were impossible to meet, drove the price of land straight up through the roof.”

Mr Katter also highlighted lost revenue opportunities for agriculture industries in Kennedy following deregulation and minimal retail competition.

“There are only two people to sell food to and only two people to buy food from in Australia. So, is it any surprise that when they deregulated the sugar industry the price of sugar on the shelf went up 300 or 400 per cent?

“When they deregulated the price of milk, the price of milk on the shelf went up 200 per cent—and the price to the farmer went down 30 per cent. Potato farmers were getting paid about 52 cents the last time I looked for a kilogram of potatoes. In Cairns I saw them for $3.90.

“Instead of coming to grips with the monopoly powers of foreign mining corporations and giant supermarket corporations and giving Australians a fair go, and taking away your stupid restrictions on land to subdivisions in an empty country, what are you doing?

“You're giving a tax break to the rich, to the inner-city fat cats. They get a tax break. That's your initiative – but you must be warned about the wrath of everyday Australians and those who seek to defend them.”

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