After Brexit and within one day of the ‘tectonic plate shift’ of the Trump victory, LNP leader Turnbull and ALP leader Shorten were extolling the virtues of marketism (Free Trade/deregulation/ globalisation).

Neither leader had ‘forgotten’ who is the real enemy:-  the Lambies, the Xenophons, the Hansons, the Katters…

And as for ‘learning’, the N.T election saw an annihilation. The N.T population is in the port city of Darwin – a port sold to the Chinese.

The state by-election in Orange (NSW’s heartland) was one of the “largest election swings ever recorded”.

Orange saw Australia’s last whitegoods factory close two years before.

Messers  Shorten and Turnbull should listen to the nearly 2 million city-based Australians who’ve lost their jobs to imported slave-labour products allowed in to overwhelm our market. 

They should also listen to the dying rural towns. Their agriculture competes against foreign farm products that get an average of 41 per cent of their income from their governments.

Let us talk about our Homeland:- North Queensland

·        Tobacco allowed in from overseas (marketisation) – the industry closed down. Mareeba, 2000 jobs gone.

·        Dairy arbitration removed (marketisation). 1500 jobs gone.

·        Sugar arbitration removed and Ethanol refused.

(marketisation). Babinda and Mourilyan sugar mills closed. 1000 jobs gone

·        North Qld Mid-West (Winton, Cloncurry, Hughenden triangle) (4 per cent of Australia’s land mass). Wools aggressive collective marketing, minimum price scheme abolished (marketisation). 4000 jobs gone.

·        Mining and mineral processing – the electricity industry has been corportrised and deregulated (marketisation). There has been a 300 per cent increase in electricity prices in just 11 years (prior to this just a 30 per cent increase in 20 years).

Kagara Mineral Processing, Century Mine closed in the Mount Isa and Charters Towers area. 2000 jobs gone. 

Marketisation has all but abolished the manufacturing of motor vehicles, whitegoods and steel in our country. 100 000 jobs gone.

The Free Market ideology decides we buy all our petrol from the Middle East instead of rural Australia’s own Ethanol. 200 000 potential jobs lost.

The free market has sold all of our gas reserves to foreigners. $23b of gas revenue is going off shore each year. 200 000 jobs gone.

Trump is elected. Within 19 hours PM Turnbull is extolling the most extreme of Free Trade proposals -- the TPP, and Opposition Leader Shorten is moving in Parliament that we need to better sell free market policies.

The Bourbon Kings were beheaded.

Bob Katter