IN BOB Katter's home town of Charters Towers, the news that the independent member for Kennedy would back the Coalition was unsurprising, but something of a relief to some locals.
''I rang my father [a grazier] and said, 'Thank Christ,''' said local real estate agent Lisa Palmer. ''Bob didn't let us down up in the north … It's in his heart, and he's shown it.''
While she would have been surprised if he had put his vote behind the ALP, local people had been sweating on the decision, she said. ''It's to the point it had affected the town in its business. Everything had gone quiet; it was like North Queensland was holding its breath.''
Mr Katter's parish priest, Father Michael Taylor, said: ''On Main Street Charters Towers, people are generally happy.'' As word raced through town yesterday of his decision, ''someone said, 'We would have lynched him otherwise.' But someone else said, 'So much for his new paradigm - he went straight back to his old one.'
''Bob is smart, though. The Coalition didn't win, but he avoids the electoral backlash here.''
Mike Griffin, editor of the local Northern Miner, said there had been plenty of speculation about which way Mr Katter would jump. ''The major comments have been that if he was to go with the ALP, it would have been a major surprise and a bridge too far.
''One comment I heard just this morning was, 'I can't imagine Bob Katter being part of an alliance that includes the Greens.' I suspect the decision will be welcomed.''
But Mr Griffin and Kett Kennedy, formerly a political historian at James Cook University, now retired to Charters Towers, expected that despite his support for the Coalition, Mr Katter would remain his own man.
''He will maintain his independence. He will be able to do a little bit more horse-trading than he would have done if he had supported Gillard,'' said Dr Kennedy. ''Quite clearly, he has an antipathy to the New South Welshmen in the Sussex Street institution [ALP headquarters].'' But his lack of regard for the Nationals was also powerful.
''Bob will still be riding his horse in the country music parade, still wearing his hat, still keeping planes waiting and saying he stands for the north.''
Mr Griffin said he editorialised on the issue last week, not offering Mr Katter any counsel on which party to back, but supporting his insistence that the interests of his constituency came first.
''The national media may write that this gang of independents have a responsibility to the nation. This newspaper would claim that that is not the case,'' the Miner opined.
''Our Member for Kennedy has a responsibility to his electorate. His cry that regional Australia is dying at the hands of successive government is where real change must occur.
''Any political deals that are signed off by Katter and his fellow independents must have the interests of the voters who put them at the negotiating table to the fore.''
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