Bob Katter is an icon of the parliament, so idiosyncratic and “colourful” that even the most progressive MPs have spent a career laughing off his bizarre interventions.
Katter has successfully insulted many groups in the past, but he has typically escaped any genuinely forceful criticism.
So, when Katter, who is the federal Member for Kennedy, threatened to punch a journalist on Thursday after being asked a question about his Lebanese heritage, the response sounded like more of the same.
Katter continues to enjoy a special status. Sure, his threat to the journalist drew criticism from senior MPs across the political spectrum, even the prime minister, who says his colourful character is no justification for violent behaviour.
But where is the same level of enthusiasm that has gone into denouncing other politicians for misdemeanours many would consider less egregious?
If Lidia Thorpe, the Aboriginal senator from Victoria, had threatened a journalist with violence, the condemnations would likely have come in thick and fast and in real time. Perhaps there would have even been a clamour to pass a motion to condemn her.
Thorpe was censured for her protest against King Charles when he visited Parliament House last year, and Ralph Babet for offensive comments made following Donald Trump’s election.
The argument some have raised against a censure of Katter is that his comments were delivered outside the parliament.
The question is: Does that pass the commonsense test?
The situation presents a big test for the parliament this week on how it manages this issue. If they don’t take action — even if that action is symbolic — it will appear there are deep double standards on behaviour that we accept and brush off, and the policing of other politicians who are “colourful” in a way we find less palatable.
We are living in an era where anti-establishment ideas are gaining steam, and part of that is an increased level of hatred towards journalists and institutions. Justifying this treatment of journalists is dangerous — the idea that asking questions perceived to be provocative deserves an angry reaction is ludicrous.
What consequences will Katter face?
When I asked Thursday afternoon’s political panel on Afternoon Briefing about Katter’s actions, they were critical. Yet it appeared as if the whole thing had barely registered on Capital Hill, even hours after it had broken on every news site around the country.
On Friday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded to Katter calling the reporter “racist” and threatening to punch him in the mouth, and said that Katter should “have a look at himself, frankly, and recognise that that’s just not what we expect of any Australian, let alone someone who’s in public office”.
Also on Friday, Albanese government minister Murray Watt suggested Katter could still face a formal censure in parliament this week after the independent MP threatened the journalist.
Watt did not commit the government to pursuing a censure motion against Katter but said he personally condemned the veteran Queensland politician’s outburst.
He told the ABC: “I’m not going to pre-empt the parliamentary processes, [censure] will obviously be considered, but Bob Katter has prided himself on being a colourful character, you can be a colourful character without threatening people …
“It is completely unacceptable for any human being, let alone a politician, who should be setting a higher standard.”
Allegra Spender, the independent Sydney MP, said her focus was more on public statements of condemnation, and she had not considered censuring Katter, speaking on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
It’s not the first time
But while the threat of violence seems to have crossed the line for some, Katter’s latest behaviour is just the latest in a series of comments stretching back over many years and that are inconsistent with his position.
Katter infamously claimed in 1989 that there were no homosexuals living in his electorate — promising to walk “backwards from Bourke to Brisbane” if any were found. The rebuke he faced for this was wild mocking.
After the same sex marriage postal survey supported changing the law to allow gay people to marry, he went viral for abruptly shifting the topic to talk about crocodiles instead — in footage that played on high rotation around the world.
“I mean, you know, people are entitled to their sexual proclivities. Let there be a thousand blossoms bloom, as far as I am concerned,” Mr Katter said at a press conference, giving a laugh.
“But I ain’t spending any time on it because in the meantime, every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in north Queensland.”
While Katter was this week so triggered by the question about his Lebanese heritage that he alleged the journalist was racist for even asking, on issues of race, Katter has long annoyed many Aboriginal people by referring to himself as a “blackfella”.
“I identify as a ‘blackfella’ on odd occasions, and I’ll identify this time as a ‘blackfella’ …” he said during an episode of the ABC show Q+A in 2017, during a discussion on land titles.
In a subsequent interview, Katter said his claim of Aboriginality stems from his time as a miner, when he was “accepted” via tribal law as part of the mob in Cloncurry.
Katter had ‘personal reasons’
While his Lebanese heritage triggers Katter for his own complex emotional reasons, the question at the heart of this exchange lies in whether or not journalists should sanitise questions in case they cause upset to politicians.
The Nine journalist has faced online criticism from Katter’s supporters who claim the reporter “was the one doing the baiting” and should apologise.
Queensland state politician Robbie Katter, who is Bob Katter’s son, has defended his father, arguing the reporter “did not get the signals”.
Robbie Katter told me his father had personal reasons for feeling upset.
“I know for a fact there [is a] … deep personal dimension to that line of questioning that goes back to his family. I’ve known that since a kid,” Katter Jnr said. “There is a deeply personal dimension that I won’t share …”
The younger Katter said it had been clear his father was growing agitated and suggested the reporter, Nine’s Josh Bavas, was being “provocative”.
“There are personal touch points that [we] usually agree on that we don’t go there,” he argued. “Perhaps the journalist in question did not get the signals. … We should be able to stand up for ourselves and say at some point that is not acceptable.
“At what point is that person responsible for their actions? They have to take some cues as well.
What kind of country do we want to be?
And there’s still one big issue we haven’t even got to.
Katter was last week defending the anti-immigration “March for Australia” rallies around the country on Sunday.
The march is advertised as being about ending mass immigration, and there is no question that politicians and all Australians are entitled to talk about immigration and the levels Australia accepts.
But there is an undertone of extremist rhetoric linked to this movement. One placard displayed at the Sydney rally read “White Unity at every opportunity”.
The way the parliament responds will set the standard as to who we want to be as a country.
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Patricia Karvelas is host of ABC News Afternoon Briefing at 4pm weekdays on ABC News Channel, co-host of the weekly Party Room podcast with Fran Kelly and host of politics and news podcast Politics Now.