16 Oct QUEENSLAND’S “NO” WAS ABOUT MORE THAN THE VOICE

More than 68 per cent of Queenslanders have voted “No” to a Voice to parliament but Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) MPs say there is a bigger message behind the State’s overwhelming rejection and it’s not purely an Indigenous issue.

KAP Leader and Traeger MP, Robbie Katter said the governing centres and inner-city urbanites still had not picked up what the regions had been putting down for some time.

“The referendum result could not have been a clearer demonstration of regional people rejecting a fantasy forced down their throat from distant and disconnected politicians,” he said.

“We are sick to death of being morally guided in the most paternalistic of ways from governing centres 2,000km away.

“North Queensland is full of very real problems of poor health outcomes, poor services, severe isolation, dying populations and general insecurity about the future of towns.

“We have no deficit in compassion or cognitive ability to conceive answers to our own problems. What we do have a deficit in is people listening to us and acting on our requests that will actually bring about more positive outcomes for the people up here in the remote northern communities who need it the most.

“The referendum result is a stark piece of evidence that demonstrates geographic narcissism, with a direct correlation between the higher proportion of ‘Yes’ voters to their distance away from the main problem.”

Hinchinbrook MP and KAP Deputy Leader, Nick Dametto said both State and Federal Labor Governments need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror after the referendum result and use those lessons to strive for better governance for all Australians.

“All of our leaders need to start listing to the regions and stop dictating to them what they think they want. Until then, the people will continue to send a clear message like they did over the weekend,” he said.

“Government is hell bent on shutting down large portions of the commercial fishing industry along the east-coast and the Gulf to the demise of large-scale private enterprises, those whom are large employers in places such as Cardwell, Cooktown, Karumba and Weipa.

“Destroying regional industries like ag and fishing while expecting regional and remote communities to thrive is hypocritical and contradictory of this government.

“All Queenslanders are suffering right now because of cost-of-living pressures, whether it be the price of food, fuel, housing, insurance or other household budgetary pressures.

“The Government should have addressed these problems for all Australian before sending the nation to the polls in a bid to lift the living standards of three per cent of the population.

“Independence for any group of people requires a conscious step away from government dependency and instead of finding new ways to keep Indigenous Australia reliant on politically motivated handouts, we should be encouraging and helping these communities to economically participate and work towards self-determination.”

At the time of this media release, Queensland ‘no’ votes totalled 68.8 per cent. Kennedy was one of the highest electoral divisions to reject the Voice with almost 80 per cent of votes in the negative and Leichardt with more than 65 per cent.