Katter, Hanson challenge Shorten to show hand on coalmining

Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson have demanded that Bill Shorten reveal whether he supports coalmining in Queensland.

Bob Katter at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Bob Katter and Pauline Hanson, the leaders of two influential minor parties in Queensland, have demanded Bill Shorten show his hand and tell voters if he backs coal — and the controversial Adani Carmichael mine project — as they prepare to campaign hard on the issue at the federal election.

The maverick MP for the seat of Kennedy predicted the Oppos­ition Leader would lose or fail to pick up key marginal Queensland seats — including Herbert, Dawson, Capricornia and Flynn — unless he backed coalminers. Mr Shorten is under pressure from the coalmining union to support­ the Adani mine ahead of the expected May federal election but has refused to endorse the project, saying it must stack up financially and environmentally as senior colleagues Tanya Plibersek and Richard Marles talked of the decline of the coal industry.

“The federal implications of this is if (Mr Shorten) continues to sit on the fence on coalmining, he will lose those northern seats,” Mr Katter told The Australian.

“Now with Scott Morrison, who’s coming along like a train, and the disastrous, stupid mistake of raising the boatpeople issue, he’s in a serious mess of trouble.”

Mr Katter could play king­maker in the Townsville electorate of Herbert after his party won the state seat of Hinchinbrook on preferences, despite finishing third in the primary count behind One Nation and the Liberal National Party. The Katter’s Australia Party leader said he would likely hand out a double-sided how-to-vote card across the state, with one page preferencing Labor and the other preferencing the LNP.

Senator Hanson accused Mr Shorten of allowing the Palasz­czuk government to “take the fall” for Adani after it commissioned an 11th-hour review that found the company’s plan to protect the endangered black-throated finch was inadequate.

“Using a prolific breeding specie­s of bird as an excuse to put the brakes on coalmining is a load of rubbish,” Senator Hanson said.

“He’s quite prepared to let Palaszczuk drive the issue in Queensland but the people of this state deserve to know his views on coalmining, particularly in central Queensland, where one in four people are reliant on the industry. I don’t trust Bill Shorten. He will say or do whatever he needs to do in order to receive the keys to the Lodge. He’s made it quite clear in the southern states he does not support coalmining, and especially Adani.”

In a potential blow to Labor’s election successes in Queensland, Senator Hanson said she was considering putting the party last, “the same place they put One Nation on their how-to-vote cards”.

While Mr Katter claims the CFMEU as “his union” and is friendly with its bosses, Senator Hanson said the union refused to speak to her but declared her party was the “greatest friend to coal miners” and its members.

Mr Shorten did not respond to Mr Katter’s or Senator Hanson’s comments.