Bob Katter's plan for a new government

BOB Katter opposes a mining tax and emissions trading scheme in a 20-point wish-list that could decide which party he supports to form government.

The list, delivered by the Queensland independent to Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard yesterday, also includes a call for more competition in the food retailing sector.

In his covering letter, Mr Katter tells both leaders that indications from the incoming government that it would “accommodate” the items on his list would “assist in the current decision-making process”.

The north Queensland MP is one of three rural independents who hold the key to forming government, after Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie yesterday threw his support behind Labor. A decision is not expected from the trio until next week.

Mr Katter's wish-list appears to put him at odds with Labor in some key issues, particularly the mining tax and ETS.

But he stressed his list was not a series of “conditions” but a guideline to priorities for the new parliamentary term.

It includes the creation of a National Energy Grid to pave the way to greater access to clean energy resources including solar bio-fuels, wind and geothermal technologies.

Mr Katter also asks for a government commitment to the “clean energy projects along the North Australia Clean Energy Corridor section of the grid” which he argues would achieve policy objectives common to both Labor and the Liberals.

Mr Katter says the “two chain oligopoly” in the Australian food retailing sector needs to be addressed, suggesting a maximum market share for any chain of 22.5 per cent - a move which would end the dominance of Woolworths and Coles.

He also proposes lifting the tax on Australian produced bio-fuels and raising the ethanol content in petrol to 22 per cent, with prices to be overseen by a board which would exclude representatives of Woolworths and Coles.

Mr Katter also opposes a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme, saying they impose an electricity cost upon consumers and “would tend to render all our export industries non-competitive”.

A request for “no mining tax” is also made by the member for Kennedy, along with “increased access to (the) traditional pursuits of fishing, camping and outdoor sports” which would involve the removal of Queensland's Wild Rivers legislation.

The wish-list also canvasses the use of part of the Future Fund for creating a new “national development corporation” which would invest in major infrastructure and strategically important industries.

Mr Katter says the fund should be targeted at ensuring the long-term goal of “achieving Australian self-sufficiency in food and fuel”, arguing projects could include mining infrastructure, ports, rail, energy corridors, dams for irrigation and seeding capital for ethanol.

On workplace relations Mr Katter has asked for an assurance that employees will maintain their current rights to collective bargaining and a right to arbitration. Mr Katter asks that “these same rights be restored to Australian farmers”.

He notes that Australian farmers “enjoy an average subsidy/tariff support of around 5 per cent” comparing it with competitors in OECD countries which he says enjoy “average support levels of over 35 per cent”.

He also advocates an agreement to ensure that import licenses for foods and plants be granted only when the country of origin can prove it has no diseases which could be imported into Australia, threatening native food production.

Mr Katter is also seeking an agreement that rural and country hospitals and dental services be placed under the control of a “local hospital board” with money to be funnelled to the board directly from Canberra.

On water, Mr Katter asks for the use of 3 per cent of north Australia's “abundance of water” for the irrigation of small areas of agricultural land to guarantee growth in the agricultural sector and the provision of food security.

“The Murray-Darling utilises 42 per cent of its water for agriculture and this currently provides around half of Australia's agricultural produce, but this is soon to be cut dramatically, further removing Australia's self-sufficiency in food,” Mr Katter says.

Mr Katter also asks for the introduction of an “open public registry of foreign ownership of farmland, housing, public and private corporations” and has called for a re-examination of the thresholds on ownership requiring approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.