‘Father of the House’ Bob Katter got to ask a question in parliament about migration, just days after he threatened to punch a journalist in the mouth for asking about his Lebanese heritage. Photo: Bob Katter
That Bob Katter, what a character. He’s so quirky. One of the good ‘ol boys, yeah? Exuberant but harmless, right?
Well, no.
The independent Federal Member for Kennedy did more than cross a line last week; he jumped over it with all the gusto of a coked-up thug looking to smash some heads.
Except he wasn’t high on drugs (as far as we know), he’s just violent – and more than a tad touchy about race.
No amount of attempting to blame shift, explain extenuating circumstances (like his upbringing), or simply laughing it off will excuse the sheer force of the anger on display in Brisbane last Thursday (28 August).
As has been widely reported and commented on, the 80-year-old Katter loudly threatened to punch a reporter in the mouth during a media conference.
The reporter, Josh Bavas from 9News, simply asked the Member for Kennedy about his Lebanese heritage.
A pretty logical question, considering Katter had called the press conference to show his support for anti-immigration protests. Except Bavas couldn’t even get the whole question out before the MP shut him down with threats of violence.
“Don’t say that, because that irritates me, and I punch blokes in the mouth for saying that,” Katter yelled before raving on about his family having been in Australia for 140 years and since the “dawn of time”.
His grandfather Carl Robert Katter migrated from Lebanon to Australia in 1898.
The veteran MP congratulated himself on being restrained over the question, then he raised his fist in front of the reporter’s face, repeated his threat and called the reporter a racist.
“You’re a racist,” Katter said.
“You cannot say what you just said without being identified as a racist.
“Gentlemen, ladies, this man is a racist. Don’t listen to him.”
Those last lines could be considered childish babbling if the whole situation wasn’t so serious.
That they are ridiculous is evidenced by the fact that the reporter is himself from a migrant background. He’s a Greek Australian.
Bavas released a statement on social media following the episode.
“In an extraordinary press conference where a federal parliamentarian was talking about taking names on lists and deportation of residents, I was trying to get a question about the value migration Australian families, including the Katters and my own family, bring to this nation through shared values,” he said.
“In my near 20 years in journalism, I’ve never experienced that kind of reaction from an elected representative.”
Bavas has had 20 years in journalism, but Katter has had more than half a century as a federal MP.
He’s what’s known as the Father of the House, meaning that he is the longest-serving Member of the House of Representatives.
There is obviously no other qualification required to be named Father of the House – such as any air of dignity or some level of respect for others – otherwise he wouldn’t have the honour.
However, while numerous politicians have condemned the independent’s action when asked about it, it doesn’t appear that anything will come of it.
Even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tempered his criticisms of Mr Katter’s behaviour by stressing that he liked the guy.
Katter even got to ask a question of the PM on Monday, in the very first Question Time since the outburst.
And it was about immigrants, the “will of the people” and the “urgent demand” of 80 per cent of Australians to put the brakes on them coming to Australia.
The PM simply answered by explaining that the will of the people is expressed at elections and that Mr Katter’s take on immigration was wrong.
“They voted for a government that would understand that our diversity is a strength in modern Australia as well, and provides us as well with incredible economic opportunity due to the diaspora here and their connections with every country on the planet,” the Prime Minister said.
No condemnation inside parliament of the violence the questioner had displayed just a few days earlier, when a question was asked of him outside of the parliament.
Katter’s son, Queensland State MP Robbie Katter, told the ABC there was a “deeply personal dimension” to his father’s reaction to questions about his heritage.
Big deal. No excuse for violence and threats.
Katter junior, like many of his father’s supporters, also tried to blame the reporter for being “provocative” and not getting “the signals”.
He wasn’t provocative in the slightest.
Even if he had been, violence from an MP can’t be justified.
But it’s Bob Katter. What a good bloke, great dude, all-round top guy.
No harm done.
