KATTER'S Australian Party is demanding both the Labor party and LNP support their reef regulation bill when it is put before the next state parliament.
Their call comes after a LNP motion to disallow the controversial Environmental Protection (Great Barrier Reef Protection Measures) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2019 was voted down in state parliament on Tuesday night.
The three KAP members voted alongside 37 LNP members, NQ First leader Jason Costigan and Independent MP Sandy Bolton to disallow the bill, however they were defeated after 47 Labor members and one green voted to keep it.
Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said today, the KAP was drawing a line in the sand, and challenged the LNP to work alongside them to support their legislation.
"We are backing our farmers by drafting a legislation that is necessary in the next parliament to throw out these draconian laws that hold back our farmers in a fickle attempt to save the reef," Mr Dametto said.
"These laws need to be thrown out and that's why we've drafted the legislation to repeal the Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment bill that was pushed through by the Labor government last term.
"This is the kind of stuff that has been built on green ideology, trying to appease those folks here in Brisbane while not even taking into consideration how this affects our farming communities, and having a look at the good things that farmers have been doing for a long time to improve farming practices.
"That's why the KAP supported the LNPs motion a couple of days ago as it went through the house trying to stop these reef regulations being introduced.
"Now we're calling on the LNP... are you willing and prepared and are you willing to back the KAPs repeal of this legislation coming into the next state election?"
Hill MP Shane Knuth called on the Labor party to also support their bill.
"There's one thing that COVID-19 has taught us is that farmers will never let us down," Mr Knuth said.
"And the sad thing about it is that politicians down here, governments down here are using politics to demonise our farmers when we should be valuing our farmers.
"This bill is evidence that we're putting forward at the next election that we're there to back our farmers - so we're calling out both the Labor party and the LNP to support this bill to show that we care and value our farmers."
