Katter's Australian Party

Party founder Bob Katter

The party's application for registration was denied by the Australian Electoral Commission on 17 August 2011, on the grounds that the intended party name ("The Australian Party") was too generic and likely to cause confusion.[13] On 27 September 2011, Katter's Australian Party was registered by the Australian Electoral Commission.[14] Although the party was unsuccessful in registering the shorter party name "The Australian Party" nationally, its simultaneous application to register in Queensland with the abbreviated name succeeded, despite a few public objections.[15]

Under Queensland electoral law the party appears on the state election ballots only under its abbreviated name. To avoid ballot-box party names varying across Australian states, the KAP unsuccessfully appealed to the courts to have ballots reprinted so that the full party name and not the abbreviated one would appear on ballots for the 2012 Queensland state election.[16]

The party's policies closely mirror those of Katter, including support for industry (both agricultural and manufacturing) and opposition to privatisation and deregulation. The party's first policies announced by Katter include:

• Opposition to the carbon tax and emission trading schemes.[17]
• Support for alternative energy such as ethanol and solar energy.[10] This is to "Reduce carbon emissions well beyond any current carbon reducing initiatives planned by the State and Federal Government."[18]
• Legislate to limit Woolworths and Coles duopoly to 22.5 per cent market share each.[10]
• Marriage to remain as a union between a man and a woman.[17]
• Halt any privatisation and renationalise privatised assets.[10] "Overseas companies owning basic services will need big profits for their shareholders. You would pay for the profits with price hikes to basic services."[19]
• All government spending on goods to be on Australian products where possible.[10]
• Ensure that any construction contracts undertaken using Australian government funds will use Australian steel.
• Prevent the extraction of coal seam gas within three kilometres (2 mi) of an aquifer.
• Every motor vehicle purchased under a government contract (arguably over 20% of Australia's motor vehicles) to be Australian-made.
• All clothing for armed forces, police and prisons to be manufactured in Australia.
• Maintain government support for Australia's domestic ethanol industry and mandate the use of ethanol in petrol; in order to curb Australia's carbon footprint and to support native grain and sugar industries.
• Restore vital irrigation water to agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin.
• No exploration or mining activity will be permitted on landholders' property without the landholder's consent.
• Implement "orderly" marketing where industry structures undermine reasonable market power to producers (as perceived currently in dairy, egg and sugar industries).
• Significantly increase customs duty on products coming into Australia.[10]
• Restore individual rights, such as "fishing freely and boiling a billy without a permit".[20]
• Government must ensure that all workers, especially farmers, are able to collectively bargain for their own economic interests.[17]
• Government must stop the use of 457 visas by big business as a means to replace or undermine Australian workers and Australian award pay and conditions.
• Mandate premium shelf space on Australian supermarkets for Australian manufactured goods.
• Promote the construction of new dams for irrigation and hydro electricity generation.
• Deliver better road and rail infrastructure to facilitate regional investment.
• Deliver more effective and efficient power transmission networks.
• Establish a government-owned development bank to facilitate investment into productive industries.
• Increase bio-security and quarantine laws, in order to maintain Australia's disease free status.
• Prevent the sale of essential assets, public or private, including agricultural land and resource assets, to foreign companies and/or sovereign entities without caveats to protect the national interest.
• Government must ensure and limit against corporate monopolisation.[17]
• Essential services such as air travel, water, electricity, gas, health services, road networks, public transport and communications should be provided by government.[17]
• Personal home ownership must be made easier by government implemented policies.[17]
• It is the duty of government to ensure bank lending creates real wealth in terms of improvements of the quality of life for the average Australian.[17]
• It is the responsibility of the government to encourage and protect whistle blowers as an important method of discovery of the real health and performance of the public sector; and implement regular, random, independent and external professional audits of the public service sector.

Although Katter himself is known to be a staunch social conservative, the party mostly does not actively pursue socially conservative policies, focusing mainly on economic issues. Although social conservatism is usually associated with issues such as abortion, the party does not have a position on this or most solely social policy issues as it is considered a matter of social conscience for individual party members.

Many of the party's economic stances echo 1950s Labor policy, reflecting the roots of Katter's father Bob Katter Sr. in Labor.

Katter's Australian Party has received donations from gas, firearms, mining and taxi industries.

For the 2016–2017 financial year, the ten largest disclosed donors to the party were: NIOA (firearms manufacturer) ($191,667), United Petroleum ($150,000), Eliza Nioa ($58,333), Sporting Shooters Association of Australia ($50,000), Glencore Australia ($20,000), Stephen Curley ($17,600), Taxi Owner & Driver Welfare Association ($16,145), Taxi Council of Queensland ($15,000), Firearms Dealers Association ($8,000) and Windlab ($6,000).[42][43]

A 2019 report revealed that Katter's Australian Party has taken more than $808,760 from pro-gun groups during the 2011-2018 period.[44] The party received the most disclosed pro-gun donations of all Australian political parties.[44]

• List of political parties in Australia

• Katter's Australian Party website