Bob Katter has issued his own log of claims, which is an apposite term, given that one of his claims is a return to collective bargaining (note, Bob, - this was achieved in the Fair Work Act on which you voted) and compulsory arbitration.
He also wants the right of collective bargaining extended to farmers without, it would seem, him realising that this right exists within the Trade Practices Act, again an amendment on which he voted.
At least, he seems to have the grace to accept that all his demands would not be met by either party, so here are the ones that both parties need toss quickly in the policy waste paper bin, bound for the shredder:
- Fixing the dollar and forcing a depreciation (is he kidding? what, improverish us all?)
- Mandating and subsidising bio-fuels (has he caught up with the evidence of the net environmental harm caused by bio-fuels?)
- Removing the independence of the Reserve Bank and the government directly setting interest rates (speechless?)
- Using Future Funds money for ‘nation-building’ white elephants (the Future Fund won’t last long under that scenario)
- Mandatory divestment by Coles and Woolworths, including price controls on retail grocery prices
There’s a rag bag of others but what do you say?
Are Coles and Woolworths really that bad? What’s with the constant animosity towards these companies?
Cna only assume that Katter’s position is that he won’t support anyone, so he’s getting all his crazy out.
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 10:15 am
Woolies EBIT margin is around 5.9-6% ish, up from about 4-ish 5 years ago. They’re squeezing their suppliers to hell and back. Wesfarmers is tring the same thing now.
The people getting squeezed don’t necessarily like it.
* Disclaimer – I own WOW.
PSC
3 Sep 10 at 10:40 am
Their suppliers should be more efficient. I don’t shop there.
.
3 Sep 10 at 10:46 am
Certainly I think the near-duopoly of Coleworths has destroyed thousands of privately owned grocers and businesses of various kinds which can’t compete. They have made the world a duller, more monotonous place. But those are aesthetic and cultural protestations, not rational economic ones.
I see Katter is also demanding full anchorage facilities for sea craft every 30 kilometres. So he wants thousands of Gladstone harbours built around the entire coast. Katter observes re this proposal: “Nil finance required; cost of a draft plan should be done in-house.”
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 10:46 am
Katter is anti foriegn investment? Who else will compete with COles and Woolworths?
.
3 Sep 10 at 10:48 am
“The trio wants legislation to stop an early poll, which would mean another election could only be called if the independents supported it.”
Astonishing.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/rudd-twists-katters-arm-to-back-labor-20100903-14svd.html
Scott
3 Sep 10 at 11:04 am
The evil hand of Rudd. He’s desperate for Gillard to get back in, take Foreign Affairs and then do the bitch cold. What a mendacious arseclown of a man.
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 11:06 am
My God! Basically he would like every Australian household to subsidise the lifestyles of the farming community. I live in rural Australia and somewhat sympathise with the plight of the primary producer but no one really expects that things can return to the 1960s.
Katter is the very model of the agrarian socialist – except only losses would be socialised!
Matt
3 Sep 10 at 11:09 am
.Katter observes re this proposal: “Nil finance required; cost of a draft plan should be done in-house.”
Could someone explain why this is a costless proposal?
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 11:14 am
That’s the man who demanded ‘costings’, Dave.
Can you believe the chutzpah of these bozos?
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 11:18 am
Some of them are terrible. Some are good.
He’s very interested in several reforms of land ownership laws.
For example
7. Provision of title deeds providing ownership of homes, businesses and farms… to indigenous communities.
I presume this would have the effect of sunsetting the unique arrangements with indigenous communities, putting them into the mainstream national property system.
8. Legislation to ensure that the constitutional right to full compensation for the taking of property by government be extended also to the taking of any property “rights” by government [such as land-clearing by farmers].
ie if the government comes in and stops you doing business, you should be compensated
17. An agreement that the Commonwealth meet with the Queensland Government and secure relaxation of restrictions on land sub-division and boundary realignment prohibitions.
“Please put a firecracker under that nanny-state Bligh government and let us subdivide if we wish”
Plus of course, development of the water-rich north. Many of us here agree with this one:
13. The utilisation of 3 per cent of northern Australia’s abundance of water to enable irrigation for small areas of agricultural land sufficient to guarantee a healthy growth in Australia’s agricultural sector and to provide food security for our people.
He’s not asking for the world, he’s asking for early steps in developing irrigation systems in north Queensland.
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 11:19 am
on the other hand, this is nuts.
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 11:20 am
No 8 is potentially *very* radical and I’ve been supportive of it myself for a while and been pushing it in libertarian circles, after reading Richard Epstein’s Takings
http://reason.com/archives/1995/04/01/takings-exception
jtfsoon
3 Sep 10 at 11:21 am
He’s right to demand full property rights for Aborigines – a right squashed by green Klansmen and the racist Bligh government.
He’s also right on compensation for violations of property rights (and he thus answers a challenge I set out here yesterday about supporting Peter Sinclair).
He’s also right on northern irrigation.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 11:24 am
My comment in the open thread is more relevant here:
Good: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 but only limited to infrastructure, 11, 17,
Bad: 2, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20
Need more information: 1, 13,
dover_beach
3 Sep 10 at 11:37 am
Oops, add 3 to the bad category.
dover_beach
3 Sep 10 at 11:39 am
He’s all over the place like a mad woman’s shit. How can you be so senible and yet so crazy at the same time?
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 11:43 am
I believe katter is fundamentally a smart guy but I find it inexplicable that he likes Rudd.
jtfsoon
3 Sep 10 at 11:59 am
I think we can answer your question with confidence, Judith.
No, he is not having a lend. He is deadly serious.
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 12:22 pm
Jason – Katter’s fabled 50 pace bullshit detector must be broken. I reckon Rudd spun him the “sharefarmer kicked off his land, forced to live in a car story” and BoBKat’s bought it holus bolus.
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 12:25 pm
Dover, why is 12 bad?
Jarrah
3 Sep 10 at 12:51 pm
Ya gotta hand it to him for egging the Beatles.
I wish I’d been around to hit McCartney in the scone with a goog.
I’m guessing Ringo wouldn’t have noticed.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 1:54 pm
Next time that ponce McCartney’s in town, Katter should hurl a side of beef at him.
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 1:59 pm
Just in:
Bob Katter says Kevin Rudd never tried to buy votes while in power.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
And after demanding all sorts of spending, he then denounces those who listen as prostitutes:
So he’s just being an a-hole.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 2:12 pm
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 2:14 pm
Doesn’t the rustic ratbag with the big hat realise that it was Rudd who drove the dollar up by incresing the budget deficit?Or that a need to borrow offshore increases foreign ownership of the Australian economy?Or that the efforts of the watermelon coalition to hurt the mining industry will have the same effect?
Tom Valentine
3 Sep 10 at 2:15 pm
Dover, why is 12 bad?
Its got the whiff of protectionism so far as I’m concerned. We’re already well-regulated by Customs in these matters.
dover_beach
3 Sep 10 at 2:19 pm
I’ve got a $900 cheque and free roof insulation that says your full of shit, Bob. You complete and utter drongo.
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 2:19 pm
CL, it’s incredible isn’t it. Rudd was so loose with our money during the GFC he engaged in fiscal intercourse with entirety of the Australian electorate and Katter’s praising him for his fiscal rectitude.
dover_beach
3 Sep 10 at 2:27 pm
Katter’s willingness to propound such a laughable thesis is inexplicable without recourse to a gay lovers exegesis.
Bob’s having a candlelight dinner with Kev.
Bruce is chaperoning Windsor.
Oakeshott… well.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 2:42 pm
Free insulation in every house. New school hall in every town.
nope… not buying votes at all.
What a stupid man.
daddy dave
3 Sep 10 at 2:45 pm
Gillard and Abbott should be on the phone doing a deal that if either of them get the other two, they’ll both reject Katter and leave him on the “two eccentric to possibly work with” cross bench.
steve from brisbane
3 Sep 10 at 2:49 pm
Try “too eccentric”…
steve from brisbane
3 Sep 10 at 2:50 pm
…the “two eccentric to possibly work with” cross bench.
Bob and Kev.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 2:59 pm
Bob ands Kev do share a love of firearms and delusions of grandeur. Wonder what Bob thinks of Kev ordering salad?
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 3:11 pm
Check out Laura Tingle in today’s Fin; she has completely lost the plot (maybe she has never recovered from her endorsement of Medicare Gold), telling us that the Coalition is unfit to govern because Henry and Tune are really being nice and putting the most positive spin on the Coalition’s mistakes and, in any case, Labor has been so good with money during their first term.
Judith Sloan
3 Sep 10 at 3:45 pm
Jon Faine was playing up the AFR’s criticism of the Coalition as indicative of criticism from across the board. So the AFR’s criticisms I now learn were penned by Tingle, a centre-left op-ed writer, who, blow me down, supported Medicare Gold.
dover_beach
3 Sep 10 at 4:16 pm
Laura Tingle is married to Alan Ramsey (now retired) who you will remember Homer valorised as ‘Australia’s best political writer’
jtfsoon
3 Sep 10 at 4:18 pm
That’s spoiled Laura Tingle for me now.
Ev630
3 Sep 10 at 4:26 pm
She could be Ramsay’s sister with all that bile and venom.
Infidel Tiger
3 Sep 10 at 4:26 pm
I mean the Ramsey intel. I never took her economic analysis seriously.
Ev630
3 Sep 10 at 4:27 pm
Steve that is a sensible suggestion. Your first to date.
Ev630
3 Sep 10 at 4:28 pm
Katter is insane. Period. There’s really nothing else to discuss about him and try to pick his good form his bad points.
JC
3 Sep 10 at 4:38 pm
I disagree. His agenda is mainly quite sensible.
Here is my take
Bob Katter’s Agenda
1. Creation of a National Energy Grid facilitating:- resource development, the decentralisation of population and continuous access to clean energy resources, specifically solar, bio-fuels, wind and geothermal
Comment: National Grid exists. Will be built-out but could not cover the whole of Australia. Access to clean energy is assured but not with further subsidies
2. The removal of the tax on Australian-produced bio-fuels and the introduction of a statutory 10 per cent bio-fuel (ethanol) content in all petrol rising to 22 per cent (as in Brazil).
Comment: Would not impose a statutory 10 per cent requirement.
3. The two chain oligopoly – market concentration – in the Australian food retailing sector to be addressed. The option of divestment (a maximum market share for any chain of 22.5 per cent only) and /or the European approach of a maximum mark-up of 100 per cent between the farm gate/factory price and the retail price
Comment: Oppose divestment as new players (Aldi, Pick ‘n Pay and Independents already arriving. Would ensure that planning allows adequate scope for competitors to locate
4. No carbon tax. No emissions trading scheme
Comment: Agreed
5. No mining tax.
Comment: Agreed
6. Return of recreational freedoms enabling an increased access to traditional pursuits of fishing, camping and outdoor sports and activities. As part of this restoration, we include the removal of the Wild Rivers Legislation
Comment: Agreed
7. The provision of freehold title deeds providing ownership of homes, businesses and farms. Such deeds to be inalienable, cannot be sold to non-community residents.
Comment: Agree deeds should properly respect property rights but not on preventing people selling their property to those who offer the best deal
8. The enactment of legislation to ensure that the constitutional right to full compensation for the taking of property by government be extended also to the taking of any property “rights” by government.
Comment: Agreed; Constitutional amendment required which deserves full support
9. Commitment to the use of some part of the Future Fund for the creation of a national development corporation aimed at lending/investing to major infrastructure and strategically important industries
Comment: Agreed but would need to be at arms length from politics.
10. Assurance that employees will maintain their current rights to collective bargaining, as well as their right to arbitration.
Comment: Agreed
11. Agreement that rural and country hospitals and dental services will be placed under the control of a restored local hospital board and that funding be delivered from Canberra directly to these hospital boards.
Comment: Agreed that hospitals should be under local boards and not be controlled by government
12. Agreement that where a food or plant import licence has not been approved, approval can only be granted when the country of origin can establish that is has no endemic diseases that can be imported into Australia
Comment: Agreed in principle and subject to expert advice on risk
13. The utilisation of 3 per cent of northern Australia’s abundance of water to enable irrigation for small areas of agricultural land sufficient to guarantee a healthy growth in Australia’s agricultural sector
Comment: Agreed
14. infrastructure taskforce to prepare plans for sea ports and anchorages and highway development in the north
Comment: Agreed
15. assistance in the form of, for example, government-provided solar hot water systems electricity, insurances, car registration and other similar charges for older generation
Comment: Would examine
16. family policy that includes equal rates of government-funded parental assistance for not only working mothers, but stay-at-home mums as well
Comment: Agreed in principle
17. Commonwealth meet with the Queensland Government and secure relaxation of restrictions on land sub-division and boundary realignment prohibitions and to establish a joint department to fast track such applications.
Comment: Agreed
18. government to provide assurance that it will address the unfair and artificially high value of the Australian dollar, on which upward pressure is placed by interest rates that are out of step with international benchmarks
Comment: Agree to examine but cannot artificially lower exchange rate
19. Introduce an open, public registry of foreign ownership of farm land, housing, public and private corporations and re-examine the thresholds on foreign ownership requiring FIRB approval.
Comment: Agree, within limits of practicalities
20. A review of zone allowances for remote areas
Comment: Agree.
In addition he has also called for rights to build houses without regulatory zoning restraints which is also a sensible idea
Alan Moran
3 Sep 10 at 4:43 pm
Alan:
He wants to lower interest rates without any due concern for its effects and believes that higher interest rates and the high dollar are a subsidy to the cities.
This alone make him insane.
I’ll grant that he has a point in so far that it is tax policy and other regulatory hurdles which adversely affect other sectors of the economy.
However the exchange rate and interest levels are a symptom of economic malaise as a result of government policy not the other way around.
Materially reduce corporate taxation, allow 100% deprecation allowance and remove payroll tax should see him get what he wants without touching the exchange rate or interest rates artificially.
His hatred of Woollies and Coles is also insane.
JC
3 Sep 10 at 4:54 pm
Even by Tingle’s standards her op-ed today was over-the-top.
Sinclair Davidson
3 Sep 10 at 5:26 pm
I’d say it was pent-up rage and anxiety about her and Alan’s beloved Labor government getting beaten. The likely emergence of a Gillard junta from the current electoral debacle has put the swagger back in her agitprop.
C.L.
3 Sep 10 at 6:24 pm
Who says the Aussie is overvalued anyway?
The Commonwealth aren’t selling shares Tom V.
sdfc
3 Sep 10 at 8:52 pm
Alan Moran, the king of deregulation, now in favour of Katter’s return to compulsory arbitration and collective bargaining. What ever happened to freedom of contract?
Judith Sloan
4 Sep 10 at 9:02 am
The $A is probably valued according to fundamentals.We have a floating exchange rate-something else the rustic ratbag with the big hat seems to have missed.However,one of the fundamentals is the Rudd deficit.The government does sell bonds.
Tom Valentine
4 Sep 10 at 9:19 am
Maybe Laura is now channelling Alan Ramsey … same style, same content that we tried to avoid reading in the SMH when he was around.
Judith Sloan
4 Sep 10 at 9:28 am
Tom V
The govenment does sell bonds but they are highly valued by the market. There is no suggestion that CGS issuance is crowding out private sector borrowing. The government borrows directly from the global financial market and banks have plenty of funding. For now at least.
sdfc
4 Sep 10 at 8:52 pm
Look at the RBA tables.
The cumulative debt, bank/FI lending to Government and fall in bank/FI assets are almost 1:1:1.
.
4 Sep 10 at 9:09 pm
There’s no call on capital of bank buying of government securities. It does not inhibit lending at all in Australia’s case or for that matter the US, Japan or UK.
sdfc
4 Sep 10 at 9:22 pm
Even though Laura T is about 473 years younger than her hubby, her earnest scowl makes her look likes his sister whenever she’s on the tele.
Anyway, what is wrong with this country, when newspaper reporters are seen as intellectuals, sages even?
Peter Patton
4 Sep 10 at 9:30 pm
I would have thought the former Member for Bennelong’s short-break from the auto-cue would have disabused us all of that myth.
Peter Patton
4 Sep 10 at 9:31 pm
It will be very interesting to see what Labor does with Katter’s aboriginal land rights policy. Imagine the scene of The Greens and Labor fracturing due The Greens’ anti Aboriginal land rights views! Actually, if Gillard does become PM, Abbott will be brilliant at wedging them apart. Come to think of it, maybe the best outcome would be for Gillard to become PM next week. After a couple of months of Deputy Leader Abbott’s relentless wedging of Labor and The Greens, they will collapse forcing a new election. By that time the entire country will have had a good look at what The Greens look like when they actually have some responsibility. Not too pretty, I bet.
Peter Patton
5 Sep 10 at 9:51 am