Packer donates $250,000 to Katter cause

Australia’s third-richest person, James Packer has donated $250,000 to Bob Katter’s Australian Party.

The donation was offered purely as a gesture of friendship, according to party spokesman Scott Barrett.

Barrett told AAP Packer’s donation was the result of a long-standing friendship between the Packer family and Katter, the party founder.

“There’s a very good, close relationship between them and they have very similar sort of goals,” he said.

“It’s not surprising to see people like James Packer, who have a lot invested in Australia’s future, to get behind us.

“We are the only party really that is getting behind Australia’s future in backing Australian industry and Australian agriculture.”

Packer’s donation is one of the biggest recorded from a single donor in Queensland. James Packer’s business interests are mostly gambling-related.

Bob Katter’s Australian Party has an unusual mix of policies as it melds socially conservative views with progressive economic policies including higher tariffs on agriculture, the break-up of the private supermarket duopoly and a reversal of the sell-off of government enterprises.