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General News

28 August, 2024

LNP candidate ready to take on Katter in Traeger

Karumba businesswoman Yvonne Tunney has thrown her hat in the ring.

By Troy Rowling

LNP candidate for Traeger Yvonne Tunney, pictured with Robbie Katter in her Karumba store, says the incumbent MP gets a lot of media attention but does not deliver for the electorate.
LNP candidate for Traeger Yvonne Tunney, pictured with Robbie Katter in her Karumba store, says the incumbent MP gets a lot of media attention but does not deliver for the electorate.

Robbie Katter is a nice bloke but he fails to deliver tangible outcomes for the North West, says LNP candidate for Traeger Yvonne Tunney.

With less than 60 days until the state election, the LNP has revealed that Ms Tunney, a well-known Karumba small business owner who has been an LNP member since 2011, will attempt to surmount the massive 28.5 per cent swing needed to wrest the Traeger electorate from the firm grip of Mr Katter.

This herculean effort would require the LNP to more than triple its number of votes at the 2020 state election.

Ms Tunney is open about the fact she has previously appeared in official KAP photographs and been quoted in Mr Katter’s media releases.

However, she said her decision to run against Mr Katter was prompted by the lack of tangible outcomes from the flurry of KAP media activity.

“I have always stood with Robbie Katter when he has spoken on issues that align with my values, such as helping the fishing industry or improving the roads across our region,” she told North West Weekly.

“Robbie is a nice bloke and he gets a lot of media attention, but can you name a single tangible outcome that Robbie Katter has actually delivered for our region that has resulted from all that media activity?

“I can’t think of anything.

“It’s time the region had someone who could sit at the decision-making table in an LNP government and start delivering.”

Mr Katter said he was surprised to see Ms Tunney’s name appear as the LNP candidate, but welcomed the challenge ahead of the election.

“I wasn’t aware that she was terribly unhappy with what I was doing,” he said, noting that he had always had an amicable relationship with the Karumba business owner.

“I’m not offended, though; at the very least it would be good to have candidates who might be able to steer the conversation towards local issues.

“You’ve got to welcome competition because it keeps you on your toes.”

The political tides in Queensland are increasingly appearing to turn with the 12-year reign of Labor looking dire.

Labor is yet to announce a candidate for Traeger, with ALP state secretary Kate Flanders telling North West Weekly the party was “still working through internal party processes”.

Recent polling indicates that opposition leader David Crisaffuli is preferred Premier and the LNP is favoured to govern on a two-party preferred basis.

The LNP campaign has also been bolstered by the unexpected election victory of the Country Liberals in the Northern Territory at the weekend, which was underpinned by policies focused on a tougher approach to youth crime.

The KAP is also at a critical juncture with frequent speculation it could become the state’s political kingmaker if Labor and the LNP fail to secure a majority of seats required to govern outright.

Mr Katter is expected to spend much of the state campaign out of the Traeger electorate wooing potential KAP voters in other North Queensland seats, especially Cook, in an effort increase the power of his party.

Becoming political kingmaker would provide a once-in-a-career opportunity for Mr Katter to secure much needed infrastructure funding for the North West, which could be essential to navigating Mount Isa through the closure of underground copper operations next year.

However, despite the obvious benefits, providing rite of passage for a minority government can also prove politically fraught.

The last time the Katter family held such sway was the minority Gillard-Rudd government which backfired spectacularly for Bob Katter when he suffered a more than 20 per cent swing at the next federal election in 2013.

North West Weekly has been told by multiple sources, including Bob Katter himself, that the ageing MP now believes he could have secured more for the Kennedy electorate during negotiations with the Gillard government.

With a whiff of political change in the air as the state election fast approaches, Ms Tunney said Traeger voters faced a choice between a potential seat inside government or remaining a region led by a political outsider.

Ms Tunney says she has travelled more than 3000km in her first week as a candidate and would visit Mount Isa today (Thursday) to meet with LNP Shadow Minister for Energy, Water and Regional Development Deb Frecklington.

Ms Tunney said she would also meet with business owners in Cloncurry later this week.

“I don’t own a plane so I will be driving the roads across the North West, just like everyone else, to talk with voters,” she said.

“It keeps me grounded and in touch with what every person in our region experiences every day.”

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