Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I consider this session of parliament a very historic session of parliament because we will be introducing into this parliament a series of bills that will provide a new era for farming in this country. I want to read into the Hansard of the parliament of Australia for future generations, the group who have inspired and driven me, and I suppose have been my spiritual mentors. I asked one of them to become my campaign director. Another one of them is the person who eventually convinced me that I simply had to get out of the party I was in and represent the people I was paid to represent—that is, Max Srhoj. I want to put on the record my personal thanks to Max for forcing me to do the right thing.

John Gambino has given us marvellous leadership. The very first activity held was a huge public meeting in Mareeba—and probably close to 1,000 people were there. We wanted to go after the throats of some of the ministers in the then LNP federal government. John said: 'No. We'll give them a fair chance. We will put to them what needs to be done and we'll give them a chance to deliver.' We had a very restrained meeting. John kept a very tight rein on all of us. Even the secretary of the organisation, Bernie O'Shea—the driving force and also my campaign director and guiding light—was not restrained. They gave the government and the minister who turned up—then Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson—a very good hearing. They put their position very forthrightly that they were all being destroyed and would continue to be destroyed if the government continued on with their policies of marketism, which had been the policy of the Labor Party.

After probably 18 months it was quite clear that the LNP was never going to do anything for us, except to continue the destruction of agriculture in Australia. Apropos that meeting, we lost the entire tobacco industry—2½ thousand jobs lost in a small town like Mareeba—as a result of deregulation, nothing to do with tobacco smoking. Similarly, in Victoria— (Time expired)