General News
19 March, 2025
Federal election 2025: Bob Katter eyes growth for Mount Isa
Boosting the mining city's population is a priority for the veteran MP.
Bob Katter believes lifestyle block subdivisions should be made available, taxes should be increased for FIFO workers and a second aged care facility should be constructed to drive population growth in Mount Isa.
Mr Katter has unveiled some of his policy proposals to increase the Mount Isa population to 30,000 ahead of the federal election campaign in the coming weeks.
The Kennedy MP said he believed lifestyle blocks, between one and 10 acres in size, should be made available on the outskirts of the mining city.
He said these blocks would require power connection, but septic tanks could be installed instead of town sewerage.
Mr Katter said he believed these blocks could foster market garden small businesses to provide local produce to the community.
“We have the ability to open land up in Mount Isa that the rest of Australia can only dream of,” he told North West Weekly.
“I am determined to get our population up to 30,000 people.
“We need to break up a few thousand acres to split them into one to 10 acre blocks.
“You can grow a lot of fruit trees on 10 acres and you can build a small business around that.”
Mr Katter said he supported discussion around the establishment of a North West Special Economic Zone to improve the regulatory framework for resource projects in the region.
“I think it would be a brilliant thing to have,” he said.
“The introduction of CopperString will open up a lot of possibilities for new mines and so we need to be looking at everything we can to get these off the ground.”
Mr Katter said any employee benefits for fly-in, fly-out workers should be heavily taxed to lift the number of people relocating to the region.
“FIFO mining should be taxed,” he said.
“If some bloke or their executives want the benefits of living in a big city then they should be paying more tax.
“If you want to get a job in the mines then you should be living in the town where the mine is – and that includes the boss of the mine.”
Mr Katter also said he planned to lobby for a new aged care facility to be constructed in Mount Isa to meet growing waiting lists across the region.
“We have a facility in Mount Isa already and it has been a wonderful facility, but we need a second one built because we have an ageing population,” he said.
Mr Katter said he believed the Greens vote would collapse at the next election but there would be an expanded cross-bench in federal parliament.
“I think we are going to see all odds and sods in parliament after this election,” he said.