Katter says Gladstone had the idea

GLADSTONE in the 1950s and 60s is what Australia should be doing now in order to survive, according to a long-standing Federal politician who has been described as eccentric and mad.

Member for Kennedy Bob Katter spoke exclusively with The Observer reporter Kerri-Anne Mesner during her visit to Parliament House.

He said Australia needed to go back to developmentalism and marketing statutory arrangements.

Mr Katter described Gladstone as the best example of developmentalism where the Bjekle-Petersen Queensland Government built the port, railway line and the power station.

“Government built ports so that we could open up the coal industry, they built railway lines so we could open up the coal industry and the grains and the cattle industry,” the former Bjelke-Petersen government minister said.

“They built giant power stations so they could process aluminium.

“That’s called developmentalism. Government doesn’t do that anymore.

“It’s all private enterprise that does all that and it doesn’t do it, of course. Private enterprise doesn’t build infrastructure of this nature. It can’t.

“When Gladstone power station was built, it had no customers. It was built on the basis if we built it, we’d get an aluminium industry, but we had no contracts.

“So we built a port, a railway line and arguable the biggest power station in the world at the time in terms of today’s money 10- 15 thousand million, and we didn’t have single customer.

“But by building the infrastructure, the coal flowed

“We were making a thousand million dollars a year profit on the railway line and we had the massive giant aluminium industry.

“There has not been an infrastructure item built until this NBN. It’s the first infrastructure item built in Australia in the last 40 years.”

“We went from a period of prosperity and tremendous growth in agriculture to a period of not decline, of shutdown … close down,” he said.

Mr Katter explained that part of the reason why Australian agriculture industry faired well in the ‘good old days’ was due to marketing statuatory arrangements were fair prices were set, instead of major companies like Coles and Woolworths being able to set whatever price they want.

He said other factors included other countries now using processes that make products cheaper, or bi-products.

“You didn’t have Brazil with ethanol back then. Brazil now murders us in the sugar industry,” Mr Katter said.

“America’s got ethanol so they’ve got a terrific advantage in grain and cattle.

“You have this free market obsession which is a complete antithesis

“Manufacturing’s gone here also.”

Mr Katter said manufacturing was protected against cheap imported labour products.