Kennedy MP Bob Katter has renewed his call for a thousand troops to be stationed at a new army base in Mount Isa.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Mr Katter first made the call two years ago in response to the 2020 Strategic Defence Update which revealed north Queensland will receive only 10 per cent of the $31 billion allocated to defence facilities over the next ten years.
Now he has repeated the call following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the federal government's latest announcement it wanted to increase the size of Australia's armed forces.
Mr Katter, who has sent a letter to Defence Minister Peter Dutton, said Australians will not believe the Federal Government intends to expand the Army unless it takes definitive action such as building a new base in northern Australia.
"There needs to be a full battalion of at least one thousand men stationed in Mount Isa," he said.
"We also need tanks and armoured personnel carriers equipped with rocket and missile capacity.
"It's a city with the appropriate infrastructure and the housing can be built at virtually no cost at all, with cavity block construction. The cost will be negligible."
The Far North Queensland 51st Regiment D Company 51 is currently based at the Mount Isa Ryan Rd depot though a company typically has 100 to 250 soldiers.
Mount Isa mayor Danielle Slade told the ABC she supported the proposal saying it would stimulate the regional economy.
"We'd have people moving to Mount Isa, maybe bringing their kids into our schools," Cr Slade said.
READ ALSO:
Mr Katter said Australia's north needed dramatic population expansion.
"If you put one-thousand soldiers in Mount Isa, the population of the town will grow to 40,000 people," he said.
"If the Federal Government uses the defence head of power under the Constitution to put irrigation in Cloncurry, Hughenden, Julia Creek and Richmond, you will have hundreds of thousands of people living in the north west.
Mr Katter said the Federal Government must also move on training every 14-year-old boy, and girl if they want to, on how to use a rifle through the cadets.
"Ukraine is holding back the Russian army with guerrilla warfare," he said,
"If we train our young people and give them a rifle, then Australia will also have a guerrilla army ready to defend our country."
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark https://www.northweststar.com.au/
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? Send letters to the editor or story tips to nwseditorial@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
