Bob Katter proposes a radical parliamentary redistribution that would include new seats for Indigenous people

Kennedy MP Bob Katter is done with the Voice to parliament debate and wants to see the back of it as soon as possible, but he has his own ideas on improving the lives of Indigenous people.

Kennedy MP Bob Katter has proposed a redistribution of federal electorates that would add additional seats in the parliament of Australia exclusively for Indigenous people.

Mr Katter has put forward the democratically radical idea as a rebuttal to the current Voice to parliament proposal, support for which slid to a new low in polls earlier this month.

Mr Katter said at least one seat for “Northern Australia” could be added to the House of Representatives and possibly another added to the Senate, within which independents such as David Pocock have been able to exercise significant leverage since the 2022 federal election.

Mr Katter said talk of “custodianship” and “sovereignty” currently riding the same wave as the Voice debate was making voters nervous about the proposed advisory body’s potential influence.

He said dedicated seats in parliament would remove the possibility of unintended influence while still allowing Indigenous consultation on legislation.

“We’ve drafted legislation that would give (Indigenous people) a member of parliament that is voted in by remote communities in Northern Queensland and the Northern Territory,” Mr Katter said.

Kennedy MP Bob Katter is opposed to the Voice to parliament. He says that rather than the Voice, an extra seat should be created in parliament for Northern Queensland, which will exclusively represent Indigenous communities. Picture: Brendan Radke

Federal electorates in each state are decided on population distribution, the methodology of calculating which is enshrined in Section 24 of the Constitution, to ensure Australian votes among all electorates have equal weighting.

Mr Katter’s redistribution proposal would almost certainly require an alteration of the Constitution – another referendum.

According to documents released under FOI, designation of seats in parliament for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was an alternative reform option to the Voice considered by the Referendum Council, which was appointed by former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2015 to advise government on Indigenous peoples’ preference for a referendum.

The Council’s primary concern with this option was politicians elected to designated seats would be captives of party politics.

According to his vision, Mr Katter said anyone sitting in the new seats should be mandated against party affiliation to ensure absolute independence.

“If they do have party affiliation, they’ll end up just holding their hand up for the ALP or LNP and do as they’re told,” he said.

“They should represent their people, not a political movement.”

Mr Katter said the “symbolic” Voice proposal should be supplanted by a rigorous political focus primarily on achieving two tangible, measurable outcomes: access to locally-grown, wholesome and affordable nutrition, and local economic development.

Mr Katter said the government is risking a lot on the Voice. Picture: Brendan Radke

“Nutrition is one of the major issues,” he said.

“I go to bed every night stressed out about the life expectancy of (Indigenous people). Why are they dying? Because they’ve got no nutrition.

“It takes weeks for food to get up to community and it costs a fortune once all the transport costs are added on top.

“The other major issue is they’ve got nothing to live for … we’ve taken away their rights to use their land.

“(Economic opportunities) can’t be there because Indigenous people can’t access freehold title and they can’t access any resource whatsoever … there’s no such thing as private ownership.”

Mr Katter said he personally asked Tony Burke, the government’s leader in the House of Representatives, to get the referendum done quickly so, as Mr Katter said, real action could be taken to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

“I said to (Mr Burke) ‘just get this thing out of the way, you blokes are falling like a stone’,” he said.

“It’s not going to be good for the ALP.

“I’m not touting for the LNP or the ALP … (but) I reminded Tony that Whitlam had a good approval rating, one of the best ever, but then (in 1975) he got the biggest electoral hiding ever recorded in Australian history.”

Originally published as Bob Katter proposes a radical parliamentary redistribution that would include new seats for Indigenous people