General News
13 September, 2024
Katter chasing LNP to back Labor on Mount Isa Mines
The Member from Traeger wants a commitment from both major parties.
Robbie Katter has called on the LNP to support government intervention to seek a "viable" new buyer for Mount Isa Mines.
Mr Katter said on Thursday that he welcomed Premier Steven Miles' comments during Question Time, however, he added that he now expected the same commitment from the LNP.
The Traeger MP said it would be "political harakiri" for the LNP to refuse to support the statements, given the Townsville economy is also set to be impacted by the closure of copper operations at Mount Isa and the city is a crucial area needed for David Crisafulli to win government next month.
Mr Miles told the last sitting of parliament for this term that he supported the state government facilitating a change of ownership of Mount Isa Mines, potentially through legislation, if a "viable" new buyer could be found.
"The KAP has secured a commitment from the government and we will be also seeking a commitment from the (LNP) Opposition to take on these multinationals that come to Queensland and use it as a trading ground and land bank to come and go as they please, when quite often they depart from the aspirations of us Queenslanders," Mr Katter said.
"We had the Premier of Queensland saying that Glencore in Mount Isa won't just be able to just walk away from a resource – that is the copper mine in Mount Isa – and put their resources into other copper mines around the world at the expense of Queensland when there are other buyers that want to go in and keep that operating.
"We have the Premier stepping up and we will be seeking some from the opposition – to say to multinationals like Glencore that if you are too lazy to take the resource and mine it, well then walk away from it and sell it to someone who will.
"Everyone to this point has been passively waving goodbye to it (Mount Isa Copper Operations) – the KAP has said no – we won't put up with multinationals playing around with our economy or playing around with our lives.
"We are there to protect those jobs – we are happy the state government has stepped up and we are confident the opposition will step up as well."
Mr Katter said the Premier's statement also sent a clear message to the wider resource sector across the state.
"If you are a miner in Queensland who has a mine that you want to just let sit there while others want to use it and keep it producing - you shouldn't be able to just sit on it," he said.
"To have that commitment in state parliament today puts other miners on notice that you can't just play around with the welfare and aspirations of Queensland."