BY JIM MCILROY
BRISBANE — The announcement on July 8 by Queensland federal MP Bob Katter that he was resigning from the federal National Party has sent shock waves through the Coalition parties.
Katter denied he was deserting a "sinking ship", given poor nationwide polling results for the Coalition in recent months, saying he could no longer support Howard government policies that hurt rural people.
Nevertheless, it is likely Katter did some hard figuring and calculated he had a better chance of holding his northern Queensland seat of Kennedy as an independent than as a member of the deeply discredited Nationals — who were decimated in the Queensland state election held only last February.
At that time, Katter caused a ripple of amusement when he pointed out that the Coalition's policies were as popular as "a brown snake in a sleeping bag".
Katter strongly and vocally opposes a range of government "economic rationalist" policies — such as the GST, deregulation of rural industries, further privatisation of Telstra, and "national competition policy". However, his opposition to government policies comes from the right of the political spectrum.
Katter was rumored to be toying with linking up with Pauline Hanson's One Nation party — although that now seems doubtful, given Hanson is again in legal trouble, facing charges of fraud over the registration of her party several years ago.
Katter is now angling for the formation of a loose alliance of old-style Country Party independents, intent on grabbing the balance of power in federal parliament after the coming elections. He hankers after the protectionist and rural-corporatist policies of previous leaders of the Country Party, such as Arthur Fadden and John "Black Jack" McEwen.
Other former National MPs understood to be considering such a federal alliance include NSW state independents Peter Cochran and Tony Windsor.
Brisbane Courier-Mail commentator Dennis Atkins noted on July 9: "If Katter and his NSW independent allies get their act together they could wreak havoc in conservative ranks, perhaps achieving what One Nation failed to do in 1998 and pick up a number of rural and regional seats.
"With Pauline Hanson in deep legal trouble and her party being taken over by a group of West Australians with a more thought-out and structured right-wing ideology, Queensland non-urban seats could also be ripe for picking by some organised independents.