House debates

Thursday, 7 September 2023

Statements by Members

Rugby League, Aviation Industry

1:39 pm

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

I represent the Australian banana industry—almost all of our bananas are grown in North Queensland. With it, we grow great rugby league talent, from a tiny little area of about 60,000 people: Kerry Boustead, Ty Williams, Craig Teitzel, Billy Slater, Matty Bowen and Lionel Williamson. Thomas Flegler, who's about to take over at the Dolphins, is our latest. Thomas comes from a banana-growing family. Jake Clifford returns to the Cowboys, God bless him—another banana and sugar cane farming family. We're very proud of these people.

I have to add to what the honourable member for Canning said about having Qantas led by a person who paid himself hundreds of millions of dollars of personal salary, had his workers sleeping on concrete under a blanket and offshored thousands of jobs overseas. I am going to name in this place the members of the board that put him in place and kept him there, whilst the airfares for the people that founded Qantas and—for the honourable member from Tasmania—the airfares in regional Australia went through the roof. While he's paying himself a $20 million a year salary and involving himself— (Time expired)