Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Hansard source

Speaking out in favour of Milton Dick: obviously, I came out of Queensland politics, where we ruled happily for 30 or 40 years until we were knocked off, and he was one of the people responsible for it. So it is a bit of a turnaround that I'm supporting him here today. Bill Hayden said, and the previous speakers made comment about this, 'If you want a future in politics, look forward to 10,000 fates worse than death.' He ran the ALP in Queensland—a lot of people would disagree with that, and probably Milton would disagree with that—and, I think, played a major part in them holding on to office for most of the time since we had an enlightened government in 1990, after the government fell in 1990. The only bigger part played in that, of course, was the incompetence of the LNP, but I don't want to bring up politics.

But I would like to mention that, like all of the old families in Queensland, of which my family is one, all the people that go way back will come from Gympie or mostly from Charters Towers, because we are a gold rush country. Our population came here during the gold rushes, and they were the two great gold rush cities, outside of Ballarat and Bendigo, of course. But I would like to comment upon this, if the House would give me permission, because it is a story that so many other families here would share. His great-great-grandmother, a widow, arrived in Charters Towers around 1880. That's a bit of one-upmanship—I think he's being a bit sneaky, there—because my mob arrived in 1881 from Scotland, looking for gold, with five children and my great-grandfather Joseph Allen, who married Miss Georgina Gough. My best mate is a Gough from Charters Towers. In those towns, it always remains the same. The Allens attended Richmond Hill State School. My great-grandmother's family, the Goughs, built the Excelsior Hotel and the theatre in Charters Towers, and they're still standing there today.

The businesspeople in Charters Towers, namely the Goughs—my family—they backed and threw all of their weight behind the fledgling labour movement. Cynics would say, 'Well, the more money in the worker's pocket, the more money in my shop,' but I don't think that's a fair comment. I pay tribute to the history of his family as a great Australian family, who not only contributed to business but also did what needed to be done when over 100 people died in two mining accidents in the electorate I represent. Seventy-two died at Mount Mulligan and 23 in Charters Towers. For businesspeople to stand up for those people was a wonderful thing, and Milton has carried on that tradition.

I end on this note: it was announced that Mount Isa was going to close the fertiliser plant, and this nation would lose about $6 billion a year in income. It was an official announcement. It was closing. The two people responsible for it not closing—and I am not going to go into the details of it—were Milton Dick and Tony McGrady. McGrady is a great enemy of mine, and I'm a great enemy of his. I approached those two people and they did the job, and that $6 billion a year was rescued for our nation, and 2,000 jobs in Townsville and 2,000 jobs in Mount Isa were rescued as well. I pay him a very fine tribute, and I want to put that on public record. Very few people in this place will ever achieve what those two gentlemen achieved in that historic battle. The price of copper has gone up 300 per cent; we're out of trouble now.

I take very great pleasure in supporting Milton for this position.

The Clerk: Does the member for Oxley accept the nomination?

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