Cook candidate Duane Amos (left), pictured with Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter during a budget response in Cairns in June, has indicated he wants a ministerial portfolio if he wins the seat and his party holds the balance of power after 26 October, a bold flex editor Lyndon Keane says is worthy of genuine political consideration. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
In what may be the biggest show of hubris and political ambition we see in the raging battle for Cook, Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) candidate Duane Amos has announced he wants a ministerial portfolio if he manages to unseat incumbent MP Cynthia Lui and his party holds the balance of power in its hands when Queensland has its say on 26 October.
At face value, the suggestion will be written off by most election pundits as the audacious flex of a candidate who doesn’t understand the political landscape he is attempting to make his kingdom, however, when you abandon an instant dismissal of the idea and instead consider what having our local MP at the cabinet table would likely mean for the genuine betterment of Cape York and the Torres Strait, the concept becomes extremely appealing.
It’s been a long time since Cook’s elected representative held a ministerial position in a state government. In fact, not since Steve Bredhauer oversaw the Transport and Main Roads portfolios in the Beattie government from 1998-2004 has our part of the world had an active voice in the executive government. Former Cook MP and current Liberal National Party candidate David Kempton was an assistant minister under former premier Campbell Newman from 2012-15, but there’s a monumental chasm between the clout a minister and assistant minister have with their cabinet colleagues.
While Premier Steven Miles and Opposition Leader David Crisafulli have effectively pooh-poohed the notion of doing any deals with minor parties like KAP to form government, the concept is one both men and their respective gaggles of sycophants and policy advisors need to run up the flagpole as one of the hypothetical outcomes Queenslanders could wake up to on 27 October. Bookmaker Sportsbet currently has the LNP as the $1.05 favourite to provide the state’s next premier, with Labor drifting to $11 – ridiculous odds on both counts in what is effectively a two-horse race. Bookies and the Queensland public wrote off then-premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her party in 2020 as well, and we all know how that ended.
Whether it’s arrogance, an innate need not to be the first to blink and mention the possibility of a minority government, or just a complete misread of the room, Mr Miles and Mr Crisafulli should acknowledge there is every chance minor parties could decide which of them gets to sit behind the premier’s desk for the next four years come the end of the month. With three MPs already and the genuine opportunity to pick up another two or three seats – including Cook – KAP may find itself being a kingmaker, a scenario the party would have to exploit for the best interests of regional and remote Queenslanders, especially those in the northernmost part of the state.
Mr Amos’ call for a ministerial appointment is bold for several reasons, one of which is, if elected on 26 October, he will enter Parliament as a first-term MP, a position from which it’s historically almost impossible to get a tap on the shoulder to take on ministerial responsibilities. Notwithstanding that, it’s refreshing to see candidates looking at the bigger picture and pondering what they can do to maximise their representation of some of the remotest constituents in the state, rather than sitting on their hands on the sideline beholden to the will of their party, or content to sling mud without any real danger of being in the room when major decisions on issues that impact our region are made – or fail to even make it to the table.
All of the five candidates currently engaged in a political street fight for Cook should harbour the ambition of ultimately sitting at the cabinet table, however unlikely that may be, because doing so would immediately put the needs of Cape York and Torres Strait residents in the spotlight as a priority.
If we don’t have a voice at the table, there’s every chance the local push to finally realise our social and economic prosperity will go on the backburner for years to come. Cape York and the Torres Strait can’t afford that.
