KAP vows to combine minorities
KATTER’S Australian Party state leader Robbie Katter has not given up hope of playing a key role in the new Queensland Parliament following Saturday’s election.
Mr Katter has reached out to independents and One Nation to discuss presenting a united front should Labor fall short of its expected majority in parliament.
KAP, which is set to claim up to three seats following the poll, was a key player in the last parliament after guaranteeing supply to Annastacia Palaszczuk’s minority government.
Mr Katter said yesterday it was in the best interests of all areas outside greater Brisbane for the entire crossbench to work together as a cohesive bloc.
“If we do this we’ll be able to reverse the neglect of regional Queensland,’’ he said.
“I’ll be reaching out to all new crossbenchers as the re- sults are finalised in the coming days and I’ll be giving them a commitment that the KAP won’t go it alone.”
The former Mount Isa MP, who will now represent the newly created seat of Traeger, said KAP would not provide Labor with any sort of support without consulting the other crossbench members.
He said there were some predictions suggesting the ALP would form government with no additional seats once a Speaker was appointed.
“Labor will at best hold a slim majority and based on the results they don’t have a mandate to govern outside of greater Brisbane,’’ Mr Katter said.
“It would be highly irresponsible of Annastacia Palaszczuk to attempt to run the Parliament of Queensland with such a slim margin without first reaching out to the expanded crossbench to establish consensus on key policy areas.’’
The Labor Party lost three members during the 55th parliament – Billy Gordon, Rob Pyne and Rick Williams.
“The only way Labor can provide certainty for business investment and community confidence is with the agreement of the crossbench,” he said.
Voting suggests there will be at least six crossbench members, all from outside of Brisbane.
“We all have something in common and that is we don’t want our constituents and regional Queensland to suffer at the hands of a majority Labor Government which has such a Brisbane- centric focus,’’ he said.
“We saw that in the 55th parliament when Peter Wellington went out on his own and gave the Labor Party government.
“I want to ensure that the crossbench works together. I’m sure each of the minor party members and independents will be as ruthless as we are in representing the interests of regional Queensland.
“Annastacia must be ready to compromise otherwise it’s going to be a very short and difficult term for the Labor Party. A lot can happen in a term of parliament and I’m sure Labor are very aware of the high likelihood of losing MPs during the next parliament as they have in the past.’’