Katter’s Australian Party officially announce Ciaron Paterson as Dawson candidate

A Mackay-based coal miner with ‘the right spark’ to help Dawson boom will run for the Katter’s Australian Party in the electorate. Find out what he stands for >>>

A MACKAY-based coal miner with “the right spark” to help Dawson prosper, will run for the Katter’s Australian Party in the electorate.

Ciaron Paterson, who ran for KAP in the Whitsunday in the 2020 state election, has put his hand up again to run alongside truck driver Clynton Hawks in Herbert, ex-NRL player Rod Jenson in Leichhardt and Kennedy MP Bob Katter.

The LNP has held the electorate, which stretches from Mackay to the southern suburbs of Townsville, since 2010.

Earlier this month, sitting MP George Christensen jumped ship to One Nation in a bid to crack into the Senate.

Mr Paterson will run against Andrew Wilcox for the LNP and Shane Hamilton for Labor.

The candidate was officially announced on Thursday in the Burdekin, but the Dawson hopeful spoke to a Mackay and Whitsunday-based publication earlier this month as a candidate.

Mr Paterson said he started work at 14, working three days a week in a bakery, and was proud of his “working-class roots”.

“Since then I’ve worked in manufacturing sheds, been a concreter, landscaper, and I’ve worked on fishing boats and cattle stations up in the gulf. I was a boilermaker apprentice and then got into mining,” Mr Paterson said.

>>>Have your say on the big issues in Dawson

Hesaid he backed the party’s focus on getting ahead and a commitment to jobs in manufacturing, mining, fishing, farming, and heavy industry.

“We want these jobs to be there for future generations,” Mr Paterson said.

“I also share the passion and views of the KAP. The KAP believes hard work should be rewarded.

“That’s why I chose to join the party to try and make a difference. I want the same pathways open to my kids and future generations that were open to me.

“We need to build Australian manufacturing, following decades of job losses in that sector.

“I want Australia, the land, the culture, the nation, to remain Australian. I don’t want us to become a nation of renters. I don’t want us to be a nation where the fruits of our hard work gets shipped offshore to be enjoyed by someone else.

“That’s why I chose to run for the KAP in the last state election and put my hand up again for Dawson.”

Mr Paterson said he had an interest in promoting First Australians’ participation in the labour force.

“While working in the mining sector I also helped build a small Indigenous training and job provider business within the mining sector,” he said.

KAP leader and state Traeger MP Robbie Katter said he had high hopes for Mr Paterson, who he believes possesses the right spark to lead a region with untapped potential.

“Ciaron’s a working man with experience across a range of primary industries, similar to our very-successful, existing state MPs, Shane Knuth (railways) and Nick Dametto (farming and mining),” Mr Katter said.

“He’ll also bring authenticity back into politics, something that’s been lacking for a while.”

Mr Katter said it was difficult to do things on a smaller budget for the minor parties, but KAP was about standing up for the regions – including the sugar and mining industries North and Central Queensland.

“We’re offering an alternative,” he said. “If people want to just keep going like they have for the past 50 years that is fine.

“We are offering an alternative and it is a viable alternative. We’ve been here for 10 years, we’ve grown, we’ve got three state MPs, one federal MP, if we’ve got one more we can do some pretty big things for the seat of Dawson.”

When asked about Mr Paterson’s loss in the state election, Mr Katter said it was important to “take a few knocks” on the way up.

“I much prefer when we have candidates who have a couple of knocks or fails before they get there because then you know the value, you know how hard you’ve had to work to get to represent those people.”

Originally published as Katter’s Australian Party officially announce Ciaron Paterson as Dawson candidate