General News
16 September, 2025
Katters call for emergency economic zone
The North West could be a test case for the rest of Australia, claims the KAP.
Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter is calling for North West Queensland to be declared an “emergency economic zone”, claiming the region is a “fragile ecosystem facing catastrophe”.
Mr Katter made the pitch in Cloncurry last week standing next to his father, Member for Kennedy Bob Katter, and Mount Isa mayor Peta MacRae, but doubled down on Tuesday morning in Queensland parliament.
“The government can say the words, they can talk the talk, but we need some action that manifests itself in something that's going to make a difference,” the Member for Traeger said.
“We're looking to address gas reserve utilities that have become industry-enabling, and that our mine leases are used, that we have CopperString committed to, funded and starting to be built, and zonal rebates to make sure that we can have people out there in these areas.
“These things need to happen.
“The time for talk is over. We've had plenty of platitudes from the federal government and state government … we need to see some action and we can't all just blame it on Glencore and hope they're going to come through and save the day.
“There's ability for the government to step in in all these areas and at the moment they haven't at both levels. We're at the eleventh hour. It's not just the community – an entire region is crying out for help.”
Mr Katter said he was unsure what the federal government had offered Glencore.
Sources told North West Weekly that the Albanese government had yet to come up with a long-term solution that would entice Glencore to keep the Mount Isa copper smelter operating.
“I'd be very disappointed if (the federal government) is targeting a one or a two-year solution,” Mr Katter said on Tuesday morning.
“What we need is reform over this. We don't want it saved, we want it reformed.
“And I think there's an appetite from all the operators out there.
“It's about sending a signal to the market, to all those copper miners in Australia … saying to them, ‘you know, we're going to set a plan for 10 years’ and I think that can be done in an affordable way.
“I think there's a solution sitting out there that would incorporate shared equity.
“That needs to be considered by state and federal government and I hope they do because it's a lot more eloquent than just sort of crudely throwing money at the problem.”
Mr Katter said the creation of an emergency economic zone would help Mount Isa and the North West “burst through legislative barriers”.
“Governments really buck up against trying to change wholesale policy across the nation,” the KAP leader said.
“If our Prime Minister is going to go and talk to America about our critical minerals and our ability to process these critical minerals, this stuff needs to have a future.”