Call that a challenge? Katter shrugs off billionaire's claim

BOB Katter has shrugged off the prospect of Clive Palmer contesting his north Queensland seat of Kennedy.

BOB Katter has shrugged off the prospect of Clive Palmer contesting his north Queensland seat of Kennedy, saying the billionaire miner would need to get a "bit fit" to take him on.

After Mr Palmer took a shot at his age, 67-year-old Mr Katter said he had faced tougher opposition in the 19 years he had represented Queensland's largest federal seat.

"You'd want to get a bit fit to handle an electorate the size of Kennedy," the independent MP said yesterday.

In another clear dig at Mr Palmer, Mr Katter said: "I've had some pretty formidable opponents in my time, and no disrespect to him, but I don't put him in that category."

The prospect of the larger-than-life figures slugging it out in Kennedy emerged when Mr Palmer revealed he was considering making a play for Liberal National Party preselection there or for the Sunshine Coast-based seat of Fairfax.

This was after he closed the door on trying for the LNP endorsement in the Brisbane seat of Lilley, held by Wayne Swan.

The Treasurer said Mr Palmer had left with "his tail between his legs" after Tony Abbott appealed to him not to run in Lilley, where Mr Swan is considered vulnerable on a margin of 3.2 per cent.

If Mr Palmer nominates for Kennedy, it will deepen suspicion he is not serious about trading his stellar business career for a seat in federal parliament and the requirement to toe the party line.

Mr Katter, who followed his late father in representing the seat, secured 68 per cent of the vote after preferences at the 2010 election and increased his margin to 18.3 per cent.

A tilt by Mr Palmer would delight the federal Coalition, as it would be keen to tie Mr Katter down in Kennedy at the next poll at the expense of campaigning for his newly formed party or switching to the Senate himself.

Flagging his interest in the seat, Mr Palmer said he would like to stand "where the people know me and I know them and where we've got a long history".

He noted that he was a large employer in north Queensland, mainly through the Queensland Nickel refinery, north of Townsville - even though this is located in the LNP-held federal seat of Herbert.

In relation to the seat of Fairfax, held for the LNP by retiring MP Alex Somlyay on a safe 7 per cent margin, Mr Palmer pointed out that he had a home on the Sunshine Coast for a decade, and last year acquired the former Hyatt resort at Coolum.

But layoffs at the resort have not endeared him to locals.

Acting Mayor of Etheridge Shire in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Ian Tincknell, said it would be "a challenge" for Mr Palmer to wrest Kennedy from Mr Katter, but not an "impossible ask".