16 BILLION REASONS TO REFORM SMELTER, BUILD COPPERSTRING

The Mount Isa Copper Smelter remains hanging in the balance, with the Queensland government seeming to tacitly sit on the sidelines, the Member for Traeger and Leader of the Katter’s Australian Party, Robbie Katter has said.

“It really worries me that all we are seeing and hearing is the Government in Queensland saying, ‘Glencore should be good citizens because Mount Isa has been good to Glencore’,” Mr Katter said.

“That just doesn’t cut it,” he said.

BRISBANE BUBBLE SET TO GET BIGGER UNDER LNP

Despite winning government in the regions, the LNP are proposing to make the Brisbane bubble even bigger by cutting a seat in North Queensland!  Robbie Katter, the Leader of Katter’s Australian Party and Member for Traeger has said, reviewing submissions to the Queensland Redistribution Commission (QRC) review into electorate boundaries.

“Queenslanders outside of the south east are already strangled by the one size fits all approach from Brisbane, so expanding the number of seats down there will only further dilute the voice of the rest of the state,” he said.

RIDE ON COWBOY – COMMUNITY-RUN MOUNT ISA RODEO KICKS OFF

“Like a phoenix from the ashes, Mount Isa’s rodeo is back, and has found its community spirit again,” the Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger said on the opening day of the 2025 Mount Isa Rodeo.

VICTORY FOR LOCAL CHOPPER PILOTS AS KATTER PUSHES FOR DISASTER POLICY REFORM

After a year-long fight for fairness, the small, family-owned piston-engine helicopter businesses that risked it all during the 2024 Pentland-Torrens Creek fire have been reimbursed by the Queensland Government.

VALE SIR LEO HIELSCHER – A GIANT OF QUEENSLAND NATION-BUILDING

Today Queensland has lost one of its true giants, Sir Leo Hielscher.

His passing marks the end of an era, but his legacy will endure in steel, concrete, and in the lives of millions of Queenslanders who continue to benefit from his foresight and conviction.

I thought I knew a fair bit about Sir Leo, but the more I look into him, his accomplishments, and his ability to ‘get it done’ the more I discover and admire him more.

NORTH WEST AND TOWNSVILLE DELEGATION TO CANBERRA: SAVE AUSTRALIA’S COPPER

“I’m not going to leave any stone unturned in the pursuit of keeping Australia’s Mount Isa Copper Smelter operating,” Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger has said from a chilly Canberra.

“Here we are, with the copper smelter; if it falls, it’s a house of cards – the fertiliser plant, the rail, the next generation of miners who want to help Australia benefit from the $700 billion in resources which are in the ground in the North West – that all goes if the smelter goes,” Mr Katter said.

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.