Katter's Australian Party
Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for a synthesis of agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies.[14][15] It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission in 2011.[16]
Katter's Australian Party
KAP
Chris Carney[1]
5 June 2011[2]
27 September 2011
Queensland Party (2011)
2/321 Sturt Street, Townsville, Queensland
1,500[3]
Katter has been re-elected under the party's label at the 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 federal elections. The party also won two seats at the 2012 Queensland state election, which it retained at the 2015 state election. The party won an additional seat at the 2017 state election which it retained at the 2020 state election.
In June 2018, independent and former One Nation senator for Queensland Fraser Anning joined the party, but was expelled in October 2018 for his inflammatory rhetoric concerning immigration.[17] In February 2020, Bob Katter handed the leadership of the party to his son Robbie Katter, a Queensland state MP.[18]
Federal politics[edit]
2013 federal election[edit]
In the 2013 federal election, Katter's Australian Party received 1.04% of the nationwide vote in first preferences in the lower house, and 0.89% nationwide in the Senate.[42] Its best performing state was Queensland with 3.75% of the lower-house vote and 2.94% of the Senate vote.
Katter retained his seat of Kennedy, despite a 16-point swing in favour of the Liberal Nationals.[43]
2016 federal election[edit]
In the 2016 federal election, Katter's Australian Party received 0.54% of the nationwide vote in first preferences in the lower house, and 0.38% nationwide in the Senate.[44][45] Bob Katter retained his seat of Kennedy, with a swing of 8.93% towards him.[46] The party's next-best finish was in the Division of Capricornia, where Laurel Carter polled 7.08 percent of the vote.[47]
On 7 July 2016, while counting for the election was still underway and the final result uncertain, Katter announced that he would provide confidence and supply to the Turnbull government in the event that it was reduced to minority government.[48] It proved unnecessary, as the Coalition finished with a one-seat majority. In August 2017, during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, Katter announced that he could not guarantee confidence and supply if the government lost its majority.[49]
2019 federal election[edit]
In the 2019 Australian federal election, Bob Katter retained the seat of Kennedy. The party also ran candidates in the electorates of Capricornia, Dawson, Herbert, Leichhardt, Maranoa and Wright, plus three Queensland candidates for the Senate.[50]
2022 federal election[edit]
In the 2022 Australian federal election, Bob Katter retained the seat of Kennedy. The party also ran candidates in three other electorates Dawson, Herbert and Leichhardt, all of which are in Queensland.[51]
State politics[edit]
Queensland[edit]
The party fielded candidates at the 2012 Queensland state election.[16] Queensland Independent MP Rob Messenger had expressed interest in joining the party;[52] however, following the merger with the Queensland Party, Messenger declared he would not join the new party as it intended to run against sitting independents at the election.[53]
On 9 August 2011, Katter's Australian Party announced plans to merge with state Beaudesert MP Aidan McLindon's Queensland Party, with Katter's Australian Party as the surviving entity. As part of the deal, McLindon became the merged party's leader in Queensland.[54][55]
On 30 October 2011, McLindon was joined by Shane Knuth, the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) member for Dalrymple. Knuth, who was from the National half of the merger, objected to what he saw as a reduced voice for regional MPs in the merged party, calling it a Liberal takeover even though the merged party was dominated by former Nationals. He was also displeased with a number of tactics adopted by the LNP's organisational wing, such as grilling potential candidates and maintaining files about Labor MPs containing compromising information.[56]
In the 2012 Queensland state election, the party contested 76 of the 89 seats in the state legislature. Robbie Katter won Mount Isa—which is virtually coextensive with the western portion of his father's federal seat—while Knuth retained Dalrymple. McLindon was defeated in Beaudesert. Katter claimed that the Electoral Commission's decision not to print his name on the ballot cost the party 8.5% of the vote.[57]
On 25 November 2012, the party was joined by Condamine LNP MP Ray Hopper. Like Knuth, Hopper is from the National side of the merger. As Knuth had a year earlier, Hopper claimed that the LNP had been a takeover by the old Liberal Party at the expense of the National Party, and accused the LNP of deliberately purging National influence from the party. Hopper claimed to have spoken to eight other LNP backbenchers who were considering defection.[58] On 29 November Hopper was elected as the party's Queensland state leader.[59]
In the 2015 Queensland state election, the party contested 11 of the 89 seats, with Knuth and Katter retaining their seats, but Hopper failed in a bid for the seat of Nanango. Due to the election's close-run result (44 Labor to 42 LNP with either needing 45), KAP was potentially in a situation to choose the government, and met with both parties and published a list of 28 demands.[60] However, as independent MP Peter Wellington elected to support Labor on confidence and supply, this did not proceed further.
In the 2017 Queensland state election, Shane Knuth won Hill, Robbie Katter won Traeger and increased their seat numbers to 3 with Nick Dametto winning Hinchinbrook. The party increased its share of first preference votes to 2.32% and became the 3rd largest party in the Queensland Parliament.[61]
Katter's Australian Party maintained their parliamentary representation but further increased their share of first preference votes to 2.52% at the 2020 Queensland state election.[62] Robbie Katter, Shane Knuth, and Nick Dametto were all reelected to their respective seats.
Other states[edit]
The Tasmanian Branch, led by Glenorchy Alderman Jenny Branch-Allen, claimed to have received many expressions of interest by potential candidates for the 2013 federal election.[63]
Ann Bressington, an independent (and formerly No Pokies) member of the South Australian Legislative Council, announced in October 2013 that she would sponsor registration for the party at the 2014 state election, although she did not join the party herself.[64] At the 2014 election, the party did however have two candidates for the Legislative Council,[65] both of which were unsuccessful.
In February 2014, the Country Alliance announced that it would merge with the Victorian Branch of Katter's Australian Party for the upcoming 2014 state election, following confirmation at an extraordinary general meeting of the party. The merged parties plan to contest the election as the "Australian Country Alliance".[66][67]
In 2018, the party contested the by-election in the New South Wales seat of Wentworth, which was triggered by the resignation of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The party's candidate was Robert Callanan, who received the first place on the ballot paper after the draw.[68] Callanan was later disendorsed over undisclosed former links to a brothel.[69] This was the most recent time the party fielded a candidate outside of Queensland.