General News
20 May, 2026
Budget a ‘giant disappointment’
MEMBER for Kennedy Bob Katter has described last week’s Federal Budget as a “giant disappointment on nation-building self-sufficiency”.
“This is a giant missed opportunity to utilise our own natural resources and invest in domestic power plants, refineries and biofuels that future-proof our energy security,” he said.
“More must be done to reserve Australia’s natural resources for domestic use, as the lifeblood for our rural and regional communities to not just survive but thrive.
“But it’s clear we’re nothing more than a quarry to give away our most vital resources to foreign landlords to add value offshore – and buy back for 10 times the cost – rather than use Australian resources for Australian-owned products that reduce our deadly dependence on imports.”
He said the budget contained a lot of announcements, but regional Australia was still asking the same question.
“Where’s the long-term plan for the people who actually keep this country running?” he said.
“There’s more spending in the cities, more headlines, more ‘cost of living relief’ that disappears as fast as it arrives, but meanwhile in regional Queensland fuel stays high, roads still fall apart, patients still travel hundreds of kilometres for healthcare, power prices keep climbing and agriculture and industry keep getting squeezed.
“How can we still justify the refusal to build refineries for national fuel security – from the indigenous oil we sell offshore for a fraction of the price that we buy it back as imported petrol, to conversion of our sugar mills into ethanol distilleries to sustainably supply one-fifth of petrol needs with renewable biofuels?
“They’ve dug up our wealth and shut down our industries... and now we’re shocked we can’t stand on our own feet when the real issue is not whether government has finally recognised the problem, but that it took a global energy supply-chain catastrophe for them even to notice at all.”
Mr Katter said the government should be reserving Australian gas for Australians, expanding ethanol and biofuels now, backing mining, refining and manufacturing here, investing in real regional infrastructure, and building economic strength outside Brisbane and Canberra.
“Because a strong economy isn’t built on temporary rebates and press conferences - it’s built on industry, energy security, food production, regional jobs, and infrastructure that actually lasts,” he said.
“Regional Australians don’t want to be treated like an afterthought every budget cycle.
“They want a government willing to back the parts of the country that generate the nation’s wealth in the first place.”
