KAP deputy Nick Dametto will not be giving grace period to the LNP

The Katters’ deputy Nick Dametto warns he will be testing the new Townsville based LNP MPs straight away. There will be no grace period.

KAP Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto has labelled the three new Townsville based LNP parliamentarians as “fresh political meat” and said he considers the minor party to be North Queensland’s true opposition.

He warned there would be no grace period for the first-time politicans, saying constituents wanted immediate relief from crime, ambulance ramping, and living expenses, while road infrastructure in Townsville’s developing northern suburbs was desperately in need of further investment.

Mr Dametto urged David Crisafulli’s government to “remember where they come from” and to acknowledge the next Premier’s Ingham roots in the regional electorate.

He said he was prepared to work with the new goverment, but whether it was ‘stick or pat’ was up to them.

And he warned they would need to deliver on their numerous promises in a short period of time, or constituents would quickly turn off them as they had with Labor.

Hinchinbrook deputy leader Nick Dametto declares victory the morning after the election, and stops at the North Shore Tavern in the southern part of his electorate for a celebratory beer.

Mr Dametto and his party leader Robbie Katter believe the general population has become disengaged with politics, which was why they recycled their messaging on issues such as Castle Law and relocation policies.

In fact, when Mr Dametto stopped and ordered a celebratory beer at a Townsville pub on Sunday, the bartender asked, “how did your election thing go?”

He said this disengagement meant North Queenslanders would fiercely turn on its new Premier if they did not see immediate improvements in their lives.

New LNP MPs Janelle Poole (Mundingburra), Natalie Marr (Thuringowa) and Adam Baillie (Townsville) declare victory at a celebratory party at The Ville on election night.

“The Crisafulli government is going to have their work cut out for them, they’ve got a lot of promises to deliver in a short amount of time and I think Townsville in particular wants to see the cost of living addressed but also youth crime,” Mr Dametto said.

“They didn’t vote for David Crisafulli because they think the LNP is going to be the saviour, they voted for them because they hated what Labor was doing in this town.”

KAP could not take any of the Townsville based seats, despite leaked polling which suggested it could win Mundingburra and Thuringowa, and the party would examine its campaign performance and determine what worked and what could be improved.

KAP leader and member for Traeger Robbie Katter in Mount Isa alongside his wife Daisy and supporters at his State Election party. Photo: Joanna Giemza-Meehan.

But Mr Dametto said that even though the party did not increase its territory, it had been able to maintain the seats it already had.

“The Crisafulli government not being able to win Hinchinbrook is quite an interesting one, because they threw the kitchen sink at it,” he said.

“The thousands and thousands of dollars they would have put into just their letter box, box drop, and bail outs is astounding, and it’s going to be very interesting to see what the LNP government does with all the power they will hold.”

Party leader Robbie Katter said on Sunday that he believed it still possible the KAP could have up to five seats including Mirani, and with the potential possibility of Mulgrave falling their way

Election day had been difficult for Mr Katter having been challenged on his abortion views on Channel 7, while he also took legal advice against advertisements photoshopping Steven Miles and himself in an intimate Titanic scene to imply a special deal had been made between them.

While the KAP fell short in the seats they were aiming for, Mr Katter remained confident in holding Mirani because of the large flow of Labor preferences to be distributed which he believed would work in KAP’s favour.

Mr Katter’s biggest concern for his electorate was addressing the loss of 1200 Glencore copper mine jobs scheduled for redundancy by the middle of next year, and outlined a brief list of what to expect in the ensuing parliament.

“It would be interesting to test the new parliament on commercial fishing, I’ve got my Babies Born Alive bill to put back in, Blue Card bill put back in, and we might, we could, test reef regulations, vegetation management, it would be good to test something on water allocations and water infrastructure,” Mr Katter said.