Robert Carl "
Bob"
Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian federal politician, a member of the
Australian House of RepresentativesThe House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
since March 1993 for the
Division of KennedyThe Division of Kennedy is an Australian Electoral Division in Queensland. The division was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. The division is notable for its size, relative to other electoral divisions...
, and the leader of
Katter's Australian PartyKatter's Australian Party is a registered political party in Australia. It was formed by the independent Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission on 3 June 2011...
. He began his parliamentary career as a member of the
National Party of AustraliaThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
, but left the party in 2001 and continues to hold the seat as an
independentIn politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
. On 3 June 2011 Katter applied for registration of Katter's Australian Party with the
Australian Electoral CommissionThe Australian Electoral Commission, or the AEC, is the federal government agency in charge of organising and supervising federal elections and referendums. State and local government elections are overseen by the Electoral Commission in each state and territory.The Australian Electoral Commission...
. Katter will sit as the only federal parliamentary member of his new party when it is formally registered. Prior to his election to federal politics, Katter was a member of the
Queensland Legislative AssemblyThe Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
, from 1974 to 1992, representing the seat of
FlindersThe electoral district of Flinders was formerly a state electorate in the Parliament of Queensland covering parts of central Queensland. It was abolished in a redistribution in 1991, effective 1992. The last sitting member of the seat was Bob Katter, who had held it since December 1974.-Members for...
, Queensland for the National Party. Katter was a Minister in the
Sir Joh Bjelke-PetersenSir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
-led National Party government, holding various portfolios between 1983 and 1989.
Early career and family background
Katter was born in
Cloncurry, Queensland-Notable residents:*Writer Alexis Wright grew up in Cloncurry.*Association Footballer Kasey Wehrman was born in Cloncurry . He went on to play domestically and in Scandinavia. His achievements include winning a NSL Championship in 1996-1997 with the Brisbane Strikers and being capped several times...
, the son of
Bob Katter, Sr.Robert Cummin "Bob" Katter was an Australian federal politician and Minister for the Army. He was a Country Party member of the Australian House of Representatives for over 23 years.-Early years and background:...
, who was the member for Kennedy from 1966 to 1990. Katter is of Maronite Catholic Lebanese descent and is said to be a distant relative of the world renowned poet
Khalil GibranKhalil Gibran Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān,Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer...
. He was an investor in cattle and mining interests before entering politics via the Queensland state parliament in 1974.
During their 1964 Australian tour,
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
were pelted by eggs from some unknown assailants. Katter, then a university student, later came forward and admitted his involvement, in what he explained was an "intellectual reaction against
BeatlemaniaBeatlemania is a term that originated during the 1960s to describe the intense fan frenzy directed toward The Beatles during the early years of their success...
."
Political career
Katter was a member of the
Queensland Legislative AssemblyThe Queensland Legislative Assembly is the unicameral chamber of the Parliament of Queensland. Elections are held approximately once every three years. Voting is by the Optional Preferential Voting form of the Alternative Vote system...
electoral district of
FlindersThe electoral district of Flinders was formerly a state electorate in the Parliament of Queensland covering parts of central Queensland. It was abolished in a redistribution in 1991, effective 1992. The last sitting member of the seat was Bob Katter, who had held it since December 1974.-Members for...
from 1974 to 1992. In Queensland, he was Minister for Northern Development and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs from 1983 to 1987, Minister for Northern Development, Community Services and Ethnic Affairs from 1987 to 1989, Minister for Community Services and Ethnic Affairs in 1989, Minister for Mines and Energy in 1989, and Minister for Northern and Regional Development in 1989.
Katter's father was a member of the
Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
until 1957, when he left during the Labor split of that year and joined the
Queensland Labor PartyThe Queensland Labor Party was a political party of Queensland, Australia formed in 1957 by a breakaway group of the then ruling Australian Labor Party Government after the expulsion of Premier Vince Gair...
, which later became part of the
Democratic Labor PartyThe Democratic Labor Party was an Australian political party that existed from 1955 until 1978.-History:The DLP was formed as a result of a split in the Australian Labor Party that began in 1954. The split was between the party's national leadership, under the then party leader Dr H.V...
. He later joined the
Country PartyThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
, the forerunner of the National Party.
While in the Queensland Parliament, Katter junior was a strong supporter of Premier
Joh Bjelke-PetersenSir Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, KCMG , was an Australian politician. He was the longest-serving and longest-lived Premier of Queensland, holding office from 1968 to 1987, a period that saw considerable economic development in the state...
. When he transferred to federal politics, he found himself increasingly out of sympathy with the federal
LiberalThe Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
and National parties on economic and social issues. In 2001 he resigned from the National Party and easily retained his seat as an independent at the general elections of 2001, 2004, 2007 and 2010, each time ending up with almost 70 percent of the vote after preferences were distributed.
On 5 June 2011 Katter launched a new political party,
Katter's Australian PartyKatter's Australian Party is a registered political party in Australia. It was formed by the independent Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission on 3 June 2011...
, which he said would "unashamedly represent agriculture".
Bob Katter also made headlines after singing on 17 October 2011 during a meeting to his party's candidates, saying it was his "election jingle".
Political views
Katter is known as an unabashed
social conservativeSocial Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
. On economic issues, like his father Katter retains elements of socialist political views from the 1950s, including opposition to privatisation and economic deregulation.
In November 1989, Katter claimed there were no homosexuals in North Queensland. He promised to walk backwards from
Bourke-Transportation:Bourke can be reached by the Mitchell Highway, with additional sealed roads from town to the north , east and south . The town is also served by Bourke Airport and has Countrylink bus service to other regional centres, like Dubbo...
if there were any. Katter voted against the
Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act, 1994, which decriminalised homosexuality in
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
.
In 1996, Katter supported his
National PartyThe National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
colleague Bob Burgess against critics after Burgess made controversial comments including a characterisation of Australian citizenship ceremonies as "dewogging". Katter described critics of Burgess as "little slanty-eyed idealogues who persecute ordinary average Australians." Two weeks later, Katter complained that it was "nigh on impossible" to send children from his area to boarding schools "unless you're rich or unless you happen to be of Aboriginal descent".
Pauline HansonPauline Lee Hanson is an Australian politician and former leader of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, a political party with a populist and anti-multiculturalism platform...
later said that Katter would be welcome to join her One Nation party if he wanted to leave the
CoalitionThe Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
.
In 1997, Katter advocated changing the Child Support Scheme to lessen the financial maintenance obligations for non-custodial parents. He claimed there was an "anti-male bias" in the scheme, and that "in 90 per cent of cases the bloke has done nothing wrong [and] the woman was at fault".
An opponent of the tougher gun control laws introduced in the wake of the 1996 massacre in
Port ArthurPort Arthur is a small town and former convict settlement on the Tasman Peninsula, in Tasmania, Australia. Port Arthur is one of Australia's most significant heritage areas and the open air museum is officially Tasmania's top tourist attraction. It is located approximately 60 km south east of...
,
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, Katter was accused in 2001 of signing a petition promoted by the
Citizens Electoral CouncilThe Citizens Electoral Council of Australia is a minor nationalist political party in Australia affiliated with the international LaRouche Movement, led by American political activist and conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche. It reported having 549 members in 2007...
(CEC), an organisation that claims the Port Arthur massacre was a conspiracy.
He is critical of
climate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
and has been an opponent against enacting legislation to control emissions. "I mean, if you could imagine 20 or 30 crocodiles up there on the roof, and if all that roof was illumination, and saying that we wouldn't see anything in this room because of a few croco-roaches up there", he continued, "are you telling me seriously that the world is going to warm because there's 400 parts per million of CO
2 up there?"
Katter has supported
ethanol fuelEthanol fuel is ethanol , the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. World ethanol production for transport fuel tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion to more than 52 billion litres...
subsidies, is against the importation of bananas into Australia, and wants to smash the supermarket duopoly of
ColesColes Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741 stores nationally Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741 stores nationally Coles Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers. It has 741...
and Woolworths.
In the aftermath of the 2010 federal election, Katter offered a range of views on the way forward for a minority government with the support of three former members of the National Party,
Tony WindsorAntony Harold Curties "Tony" Windsor , an Australian politician, is an independent member of the House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Division of New England, New South Wales...
,
Rob OakeshottRobert James Murray "Rob" Oakeshott is an Australian politician. He is the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales, which he won in the 2008 by-election following the resignation of former Nationals leader and Howard minister Mark Vaile...
and himself, who were all re-elected as independent members of parliament from rural electorates. Katter stated his vote would go to "whoever gives us the right to survive". He presented a document titled
20 points and asked the major parties to respond before deciding which party he would support. The sobriquet 'Mad Katter' was coined by the media to describe Katter and his ideas.
On 7 September 2010 Katter announced his support for a Liberal/National Party
coalitionThe Coalition in Australian politics refers to a group of centre-right parties that has existed in the form of a coalition agreement since 1922...
minority government.
In August 2011 Katter said the prospect of
same-sex marriageSame-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
"deserves to be laughed at and ridiculed". The following week, his half-brother Carl, who is gay, spoke to Channel Ten, saying of Katter's comments "It's hurtful, it's dangerous, it's damaging, and it's really inappropriate."
External links