Our Position Regarding the Katter (Australian) Party

Members ask: what is our attitude to Bob Katter's "Australian Party", specifically with respect to the upcoming Queensland election?

This was a matter discussed at length at our recent State Meeting and is deserving of clarification.

Supporters of the Australia First Party, and readers of this blog, will be aware that we have specific criticisms of the Katter group.

We are very clear about the policies and positions that we believe to be critically important for Australia's future. Our members and supporters would not be part of Australia First if they were not similarly clear that the ultraliberal, globalising order simply has to go if our nation is to have any future at all. As such, we do not compromise on what we firmly believe to be matters of vital principle. This does not mean we are inflexible, merely that our focus is clear. We have a job to do.

There are some policies espoused by the Katter group that worry us.  In particular, we do condemn the Katter view that immigration should be continued to increase Australia’s population. This can only be done with Third World migrants who cannot be assimilated to Australia without Australia being assimilated to them. Immigration has had its day. To say otherwise is dangerous and foolish and is a fundamental difference between us.

However it is also our view that the supporters of Katter's party, and most likely Katter himself, have only honourable intentions to see rural Australia put right to the advantage of Australia. Any differences in our platforms are, accordingly, due not to differences in our devotion to Australia, but in precisely how we understand the nature of the problem our nation faces. It is our view that certain troubling Katter policies are most likely due to a perception that the problems we face are merely problems of policy which require "tweaking".

We know differently. Our problem is an alien ideology imposed on our nation by very malignant and entirely self-serving forces, none of which have our nation's interests at heart in any way. Whereas we know this ideology has to be deconstructed and broken before change is possible, those who believe in "tweaking" and fine-tuning the system naturally do not have a clear, unified approach but instead are liable to believe in a patchwork-quilt of policy positions that each independently seem reasonable. This does not make them people of bad conscience in any sense whatsoever, and, without surrendering our principles in any way, we can certainly work with such people for the common interests of our nation.

On a practical level, due to the constraints of the electoral registration process, it is unlikely that Australia First will have completed a successful state registration application before the Queensland election, an election which rumour has it might well be called early.

We are not "wreckers". It is not our intention to see Bob Katter, whatever his faults, fail and the Liberal/Labor system succeed at his expense.

As is already our stated policy, we encourage independents to challenge the parties of the system at this and every election. It is not a stretch to include in this definition those parties, such as Katter's, which we fully hope will be proved to be genuinely independent of the system. Australia First therefore intends at the next election to endorse any number of candidates such as we might find upon investigation to be worthwhile and who have Australia's interests at heart. It is likely we will also recommend a vote for Bob Katter ahead of the Liberal/Labor system as part of this.

As we always remind our supporters and voters in general, there is no point whatsoever in a vote for Labor or Liberal (LNP) at this or any future election. Do not be taken in by LNP rhetoric to the effect that a vote for LNP is essential to get rid of Anna Bligh. This is their scam, a long-running trick worthy of any sideshow hustler. Don't fall for it.

At the upcoming Queensland state election, we feel that despite the real problems with Katter's policies, his members and supporters are good people whose hearts are in the right place. Accordingly, we recommend that a vote for the "Australian Party" is an acceptable alternative on this occasion.