HEY MINISTER! INDUSTRY HAS THE ANSWERS – NOT BEAN COUNTERS

For most of the last 18 months, the future of the Mount Isa Copper Mine and Smelter have demanded my intense focus.

Much has been said about the critical nature of the Mount Isa Copper Smelter and the associated Townsville Refinery; its importance in Australia’s world trade, the 17,000 jobs it supports, and the future of Mount Isa itself.

Since the first announcement that the owners would be closing this critical infrastructure, I have sought out knowledgeable industry leaders who know this stuff best.  Mine managers and engineers, financiers, deal brokers, market experts, the list goes on.

QLD HEALTH BUDGET FAILS RENAL PATIENTS IN CHARTERS TOWERS: KATTER

Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter has criticised the Queensland Government for once again turning its back on remote renal patients by ignoring requests for lifesaving funds in the latest Budget.

Despite persistent lobbying by Mr Katter for funding to extend the Charters Towers renal dialysis service, backed by Health Service leaders, the 2025-26 State Budget contained no commitment to support additional staff to expand the four-chair dialysis operation from three to five days a week.

FERAL CAT CRISIS: KATTER CALLS FOR BOUNTY TO SAVE WILDLIFE, BIOSECURITY

“Feral cats are out of control – they’re tearing through native birdlife and small mammals, not just out in the bush, but right in the middle of our towns,” KAP Leader and Member for Traeger Robbie Katter has said.

Mr Katter is calling for a State-funded cat bounty across North West Queensland, saying feral cats are wreaking havoc on native wildlife, threatening livestock, and spreading dangerous diseases.

KATTER CALLS FOR STATE TO BACK PISTON-ENGINE HELICOPTERS IN DISASTER RESPONSE

Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter, is calling for urgent reform to Queensland’s disaster management policy to formally recognise and financially support the vital role of piston-engine helicopters—particularly during major fire and flood emergencies in rural and remote communities.

BALL IS IN THE COURT OF PREMIER, PM – SMELTER MUST NOT CLOSE: KATTER

“Australia is about to walk away from the critical minerals boom,” the Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger has said.

“Foreign ministers are talking about China’s dominance and determination to break the world’s critical mineral market, yet we’re watching the ‘close’ sign being prepared to be nailed to the door of our only tolling copper smelter in Australia.

“The Mount Isa Copper Smelter must not close. We cannot let China win and lose our ability to produce strategic and critical minerals,” Mr Katter said.

KATTER SLAMS DIVISIVE AND DYSFUNCTIONAL SCHOOL CHARTER FLIGHTS

Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter has condemned the new school charter flight arrangement as a system that fosters division and fails to meet the needs of remote communities.

Mr Katter said the model – which restricts access to government-funded flights to only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students eligible for ABSTUDY – is fundamentally flawed and unfair.

“This is not an Indigenous problem. It’s a remote living problem,” Mr Katter said.

Opinion Editorial: Leaders’ time to act. Robbie Katter MP, KAP Leader.

Leaders lead, they don’t follow.

The arena is set. Australia and Queensland are at a watershed moment. Our leaders have a choice; take control of our destiny or choose to be passively led by international powers.

Much has been said and published about the impending fate of my home city, Mount Isa.

Global commodity trader Glencore has announced the closure of the city’s copper mine and has not committed to continuing operations of the copper smelter, or Townsville’s refinery.

What has changed? Words and promises, not action on CopperString: Katter

“Line items in a budget don’t build an economy, and they certainly don’t build a powerline, but it’s a good start,” the Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger has said.

“When Powerlink were in charge, all we heard were excuses. So, when the new government brought the QIC in to sort out the mess, we had a glimmer of hope,” Mr Katter said.

“But we still haven’t seen a single pole in the ground, or a meter of powerline strung!”

REMINDER TO GLENCORE: QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA, OWNS MINERALS AND DECIDES WHO MINES THEM

Australia’s role in the worldwide critical and strategic minerals boom is being determined by the boardroom and CEO of a global commodity trader, the Federal, and State Members of Parliament, and Mayor have declared in Mount Isa.

“Glencore have come out and have sought to remind Queenslanders that their Swiss boardroom control the destiny of mineral production in this state, while at the same time threatening the continued operation of our copper smelter and Townsville’s refinery – a serious threat to thousands of Queensland jobs” the State member for Traeger, Robbie Katter has said.

TALK IS CHEAP – REFORM AND REAL ACTION, NOT JUST SUBSIDIES NEEDED: KATTER

“While authorities continue to ‘talk’, and provide piecemeal ‘support’, the communities of the North West continue to live in as state of uncertainty about what the future holds,” the Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter has said in Mount Isa today.

At the North West MPX, the Minister for Natural Resources and Mines, Minister for Manufacturing and Minister for Regional and Rural Development told the gathered resources industry that Mount Isa and the North West’s resilience and endurance had built modern Queensland.  He also announced a small incentive for new phosphate mines to use the Mount Isa railway line.