Winton meeting December 5
Responding to Longreach priest Father Matthew Moloney’s call for mercy from the banks towards heavily indebted graziers, the Member for Mount Isa Rob Katter and the Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter are joining forces with radio presenter Alan Jones of 2GB to call for a rural debt crisis summit in Winton on Friday 5 December 2014.
Pulling together beleaguered graziers, local agribusiness bankers, small business owners, politicians and with invites out to the big banks and the Australian Banking Association, Rob Katter sees it as a crunch point for the agricultural sector, not only in Queensland, but the whole country.
“What is needed and what we’ve been calling for is a complete restructuring of agricultural debt.
“Spiralling agricultural debt was a problem before Labor’s Live Export Ban, before the drought and it needs a systemic solution such as the Australia Reconstruction Development Board,” Mr Katter said.
“There’s no doubt there are scores of grazing families in financial distress at the moment, and the combined cultural, economic, social and environmental impact of doing nothing further is difficult to comprehend,” Mr Katter said.
Mr Katter said he was calling on both State and Federal Governments to commit to some of the solutions out there for graziers who were on the verge of bankruptcy.