Katter could be the kingmaker

ABOUT 770km west of Townsville lies Cloncurry. This small town might provide a clue as to who forms government after May 21.

Cloncurry is the “ancestral seat” of the Katter clan. Well before Mount Isa became the biggest settlement in the north-west of Queensland, Cloncurry was born and thrived on the back of sheep, cattle, copper and uranium at the old May Kathleen mine.

The current MP for Kennedy, Bob Katter Jnr, knows the history of Cloncurry very well and, like most people in the bush, never forgets a favour.

Bob’s father, Bob Katter Snr, was of course the former longserving Country Party MP for Kennedy from 1966 until 1990 and I had the pleasure of knowing him in Canberra.

He won Kennedy, which was a Labor stronghold in those days, with a 13+ per cent swing on the back of QLP preference votes, remnants of the great split that shattered the Labor Party in Queensland in 1957.

Before becoming an MP, Bob Snr served on Cloncurry Shire Council for over 20 years.

But the Katters also come from Labor stock, with Bob Snr being a former member of the Labor Party and Union delegate before the split.

Bob Jnr survived in the seat in 2013 because of Labor preferences and has backed union members in his electorate.

There is no love lost between Katter and the LNP and the Katter Party has three state seats in North Queensland (his son Robbie is a state MP) that should naturally be LNP seats, propped up with ALP preferences

With Katter turning 80 at the end of this term, he could find himself in the position of deciding who will form government after the election, if the Parliament is hung.

Labor, I think, can only rely on support for supply from Wilkie and Brandt.

Even if the Coalition gets fewer seats than Labor, they will try to cut a shaky deal with the Teals (who I think will get three seats), Haynes in Indi and Sharkie in Mayo.

This is where Cloncurry, Bob Katter Snr and Bob Katter Jnr and history all collide.

You see when he was infrastructure minister, Anthony Albanese worked with

Queensland’s then main roads minister Craig Wallace and the Cloncurry Shire Council to deliver a $13m heavy vehicle bypass for the town.

This might not sound like a big deal in the scheme of things but it meant a lot to the people of Cloncurry and a bloke like Bob Katter won’t forget that.

He holds Albanese in high regard not only for the bypass but a raft of other projects that Albanese delivered when Labor was last in government, such as major works on the “death trap”, the federally-funded Bruce Highway and the Flinders Highway, which stretches from Townsville to Mount Isa.

While Bob will demand lots of funding for North Queensland under any deal, I can see him guaranteeing supply for Albanese to ensure stable government. Another election is not in our nation’s interest and Bob will know it. If Labor needs one vote to secure supply and government, don’t be surprised to see speaker Katter elected to chair parliament.

In 1941 two Independent MPs, Arthur Coles and Alexander Wilson, who represented traditional conservative

KATTER ... COULD FIND HIMSELF IN THE POSITION OF DECIDING WHO WILL FORM GOVERNMENT AFTER THE ELECTION, IF THE PARLIAMENT IS HUNG.

electorates, brought down the Menzies/Fadden government in the hung parliament that ensued after the 1940 election.

Australia’s great war-time leader John Curtin came to power and Labor went on to record its greatest ever election win in 1943 and lead Australia to peace. History has a funny way of repeating itself and, with the Chinese setting up camp in the Solomon Islands, Bob Katter more than anyone will understand the need for stability, repaying a favour.