Robbie Katter brands Premier 'arrogant' after Katter's Australian Party loses Hinchinbrook seat
Katter's Australian Party faces a fight for survival after losing Hinchinbrook, with the LNP now pushing to abolish another KAP seat through boundary changes.
Branded “arrogant” by a furious Robbie Katter after declaring the formerly safe Hinchinbrook seat was no longer “Katter country,” Premier David Crisafulli’s by-election victory has ignited a political firestorm that sees Katter’s Australian Party fighting for its survival.
Mr Katter on Monday labelled the LNP’s win as a “lacklustre result” achieved only through a campaign of “spite” and massive spending during what he said is the new government’s “honeymoon period.”
Following the victory of LNP candidate Wayde Chiesa on Saturday night, Mr Crisafulli declared during celebrations at the iconic Lees Hotel in Ingham, that the electorate was no longer “Katter country”, but was now “Chiesa country”.
Mr Katter said the Premier’s comments were presumptive.
“We’ve never called it Katter country,” Mr Katter said.
“My family has never uttered the words Katter country. We’ve just turned up and done our job.”
“So I think it’s being arrogant to brand the seat yourselves. I think that’s for others to make commentary on. We never declare anything ourselves.”
The loss of Hinchinbrook is a significant blow for the KAP, reducing its parliamentary representation to just two members — Mr Katter and Hill MP Shane Knuth — after former MP Hinchinbrook Nick Dametto resigned to successfully contest the race for mayor of Townsville.
The party now faces a fight for survival, with the LNP lodging a submission to the Queensland Redistribution Commission for a restructure of the electoral boundaries – a move that proposes abolishing Mr Knuth’s seat of Hill.
Mr Knuth has previously faced similar changes after the removal of his Charters Towers seat in 2009 lead to him winning the new seat of Dalrymple.
That seat was abolished before the 2017 election, with Mr Knuth moving to his current seat of Hill.
If successful, the boundary redistribution would remove the KAP seat and reduce the party’s influence in parliament.
Mr Katter attacked the LNP’s campaign, accusing the party of flying in “aggressive” party workers from the southeast to man polling booths.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
“The amount of money and sort of spite and effort put into trying to pull another candidate down.”
Mr Katter said the KAP refused to “return serve” on the negativity and he was proud KAP candidate Mark Molachino “kept his integrity throughout the process” to secure 30 per cent of the vote.
Despite the loss, Mr Katter said the LNP should be concerned that it only “scraped across the line”.
“I don’t think there is anything they can celebrate too high, other than they had the win,” he said.
“But if you put further context around that, it wasn’t a fantastic win for them either.”
Mr Katter warned the KAP and voters would now hold Mr Chiesa to account when voicing regional issues to the southeast corner, particularly around Castle Law and the crocodile cull debate.
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Originally published as Robbie Katter brands Premier 'arrogant' after Katter's Australian Party loses Hinchinbrook seat
