Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) has voted to withdraw its support for campdrafting throughout Queensland.
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington and Member for Gympie Tony Perrett said the KAP MPs Rob Katter and Shane Knuth yesterday voted with the Palaszczuk Labor Government to reject proposals to grant Community Liquor Permit (CLP) exemptions for campdraft events.
The LNP’s Liquor and Fair Trading (Red Tape Reduction) Amendment Bill 2015 sought to provide exemptions for campdrafting from needing a CLP during the running of its events and the KAP voted with to knock back the LNP Bill.
“By rejecting this bill Labor and KAP have openly admitted that they do not trust campdrafters. This is quite ridiculous and extremely disappointing,” Mrs Frecklington said.
“It was a common-sense change aimed at reducing red tape for campdrafting groups.
“Volunteers who run these local community groups are being burdened with unnecessary paperwork to appease the nanny state mentality of the KAP and the State Labor Government.
“In fact, the initial request to grant the exemption came from the President of the Cooyar Campdraft Association, Paul Barron who asked that campdrafts be treated the same as ‘small regional shows’ which are given an exemption.”
Member for Gympie Tony Perrett said that the vote showed that KAP claims of support for rural and regional activities and their supporters were mere tokenism.
“They had an opportunity to show their support and instead they once again chose to go the way of the Palaszczuk Labor Government,” Mr Perrett said.
“This is disappointing but not surprising. It is a kick in the guts for the sport.
“There is no way the KAP did not know what they were voting for when they sided with the government.”
“Campdrafting has more than 20,000 supporters across Queensland and 220 affiliated committees.
“Even the Department of Justice and Attorney-General admitted that there have never been any problems relating to the sale of liquor at camp drafting events.
“As a member of the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee I specifically asked if the Department was aware of any problems in relation to the sale of or availability of alcohol at campdrafting events. The reply was of course – No.*”
“I have had a long association with campdrafting, and it is obvious to me that Labor and the KAP have no idea when it comes to supporting regional communities. “
“The vote shows that they seem to be more interested in horse trading and backroom deals.”
“Campdrafting it is a family orientated sport, run by reputable people and they deserve our support.”
*Queensland Parliamentary Hansard
Mr PERRETT: … Is the Department aware of any problems currently occurring in relation to the sale of or availability of alcohol at camp drafting events?
Mr SARQUIS: No. We have no evidence of any problems there. They are largely family-type events, so we generally do not have problems with those sorts of events.
Link to Public Hearing (see pages 22-23) http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/committees/LACSC/2015/02-LiquorFairTradRTRAB15/02-trns-ph20Jul2015.pdf
