Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter flew to Weipa for the Western Cape Futures Symposium to show support to the region from other remote parts of the state, like his Traeger electorate, and says he believes Cape York’s environment sets it up to be a potential biofuel leader. Photo: Cape York Weekly.
The leader of Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) says remote parts of Queensland must stand united if they are to convince government they are worthy of receiving funding to fuel local economic development opportunities.
Robbie Katter flew himself to Weipa on 7 May to support the 2025 Western Cape Futures Symposium and said there were similarities between western Cape York and his Traeger electorate that demanded a unified approach.
“I think it’s really important and a good signal to send that other regions support each other, because there needs to be unified message that there’s growth for the state that exists outside the south-east corner,” he told Cape York Weekly.
“It’s not just people being parochial, saying ‘we want our place to advance’, but a collective of people coming together saying ‘you need to strategically look at all these regional areas and look at the policy settings and things you can do differently that could unlock all this potential for the rest of the state’ – I don’t think we can all do that by ourselves, individually, as communities.”
Mr Katter said he was concerned about the availability of remote infrastructure funding in the lead-up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games and echoed the sentiment of Cook MP David Kempton, who said in February it would be a “real battle” for areas like Cape York over the next seven years.
“I think the deficit in infrastructure has already reduced our competitiveness – it is already very limiting,” the KAP leader said.
“So, project that forward, it can only get worse and put it in a more precarious position; you can talk about other priorities or whatever, but at the end of the day, this stuff (remote infrastructure development) just simply has to be done, so they’re gonna have to find a way.”
With a recurrent theme of economic diversity raised during the symposium, Mr Katter said he believed Cape York’s environment, climate and existing infrastructure made it an ideal location to be a leader in the biofuel industry.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to meet most of the main players in Australia, and they’re seeking big investment and land that I think is far inferior to what you’ve got here,” he said.
“And you’ve got a port, you’ve got power and water; you’ve got all the infrastructure set up to walk straight into an alternate industry.
“And this country out here, one thing that stands out to me, these trees are two to three times taller than in Charters Towers or anything just off the coast where they’re looking at trying to establish these other industries now.”
