LNP and Labor trying to attract foreign investment at the expense of our own industries. The LNP’s love affair with China is getting more intense

Katter’s Australian Party is demanding an immediate response and action from both State and Federal Governments regarding a Chinese company’s multi-million-dollar plan to encroach on territory 3 klms from Australia’s northern border.

Robbie Katter warns the State and Federal Governments they must act to halt this dangerous militarisation of the Torres Strait. China wants to build a $39 billion complex on PNG’s Daru Island 3 klms from Australian waters. Naturally the Chinese being honorable people would never think of making the proposed port and industrial facility a military installation. Their so-called fishing boats are equipped with the most sophisticated surveillance equipment available today.

Hong Kong-registered company WYW Holding Limited has lodged plans to build a new city on Papua New Guinea’s Daru Island, just kilometres from Australia’s border, which would include a seaport, resort and business and commercial zone.

It follows the revelation just three months ago that PNG signed a memorandum of understanding with a separate Chinese company to assess establishing a multi-million-dollar fisheries park on Daru.

“The PNG Government is saying it doesn’t know anything about the plans to build a city on Daru, but a letter was addressed to Prime Minister James Marape early last year from the Chinese company involved, and the Government is saying it won’t stop a big foreign investor from coming in and benefiting the locals,” KAP Leader and Traeger MP Robbie Katter said.

He condemned the plan as disgraceful and demanded a response from the Palaszczuk Government on whether it would advocate against the proposal.

“This is outrageous and I want to hear from our State Government as to whether it will advocate against this emerging encroachment on territory so close to our border,” he said.

Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter had called on the Foreign Minister to intervene and will use the next parliamentary sitting to ask the Federal Government what it’s doing to protect the region, known as one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and location of strategic importance to Australia and PNG.

Chinese warships could be a familiar sight in northern and eastern Torres Strait if the PNG Government allows them onto Daru Island

In the drawn-out wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Robbie Katter said it was essential that all levels of government committed to stabilising Australia’s assets and building up the sovereignty of the nation.

Last September, Mr Katter condemned the Federal Government’s preposterous plan to give foreign companies tax breaks to invest in Australia, claiming it would leave local industry dead in the ditch.

“I am appalled and flabbergasted by Peter Dutton’s announcement to offer enticements to foreign investment rather than save dying local businesses in our own backyard,” he said at the time.

“The KAP has been urgently calling for incentives and subsidies to ensure the survival of local industries, particularly manufacturing.”

The same month, the KAP called on both State and Federal Governments to pressure the Foreign Investment Review Board to stop the sale of now-liquidated Queensland mining company CuDeco Limited to China.

KAP intends to raise the issue of WYW Holding Limited’s plans to build a city on Daru Island when Parliament resumes at the end of the month.