Robert Bellarmine Carl Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1993.[2][3] He was previously active in Queensland state politics from 1974 to 1992. Katter was a member of the National Party until 2001,when he left to sit as an independent. He formed his own party,Katter's Australian Party,in 2011.
Katter left state politics in 1992,and the following year was elected to federal parliament standing in the Division of Kennedy (his father's old seat). He resigned from the National Party in the lead-up to the 2001 federal election,and has since been re-elected four more times as an independent and another four times for his own party. Katter is known for his social conservatism.[4] His son,Robbie Katter,is a state MP in Queensland,the third generation of the family to be a member of parliament.[1]
Katter was born in Cloncurry,Queensland,the son of Robert Cummin Katter,the member for Kennedy from 1966 to 1990,and his wife,Mabel. His paternal grandparents went to Cloncurry in a stage coach around 1900. Katter's paternal grandfather was a Lebanese migrant,who owned clothing shops throughout north Queensland. His father,Bob Katter Sr.,was an Australian politician who was in the House of Representatives from 1966 to 1990,representing the National Party (originally named the Country Party).
Growing up in Cloncurry,Katter's family owned a clothing shop and managed a local cinema. He was one of only six at his school who finished year 12.[5]
Katter attended the University of Queensland,where he studied law,but later dropped out without graduating. While at university,Katter was President of the University of Queensland Law Society[6] and St Leo's College.[7] As a university student,Katter pelted the Beatles with rotten eggs during their 1964 tour of Australia,declaring in a later meeting with the band that he undertook this as "an intellectual reaction against Beatlemania".[8] He also served in the Citizens Military Forces.
Returning to Cloncurry,he worked in his family's businesses,and as a "labourer in the Mt Isa Mines".[5][9]
State politics (1974–1992)
Katter's father was a member of the Australian Labor Party until 1957,when he left during the Labor split of that year. He later joined the Country Party,now the National Party. The younger Katter was a Country Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1974 to 1992,representing Flinders in north 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 for a brief time in 1989 until the Nationals were defeated in that year's election.[1]
While in the Queensland Parliament,Katter junior was a strong supporter of Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen,though he remained in cabinet under Mike Ahern,ultimately resigning from Cabinet along with Russell Cooper. He was on the backbench. Then appointed again to Cabinet in the traditional number two position of Mines &Energy. This was under the Bjelke-Petersen's factions restoration to power.
Federal politics (1993–present)
Katter did not run for re-election to state Parliament in 1992. He ran as the National candidate in his father's former seat of Kennedy at the 1993 federal election,facing his father's successor,Labor's Rob Hulls. Despite name recognition,Katter trailed Hulls for most of the night. On the eighth count,a Liberal candidate's preferences flowed overwhelmingly to Katter,allowing him to defeat Hulls by 4,000 votes.[10] He would not face another contest nearly that close for two decades.
In 1994,Katter advocated against federal privacy laws[11] that bypassed Tasmania's anti-gay laws,[12] claiming the government was "helping the spread of AIDS" and legitimizing "homosexual behavior". He also believed the laws jeopardized states' rights in Australia.[13]
Katter was re-elected with a large swing in 1996,and was re-elected almost as easily in 1998.[14] However,when he transferred to federal politics,he found himself increasingly out of sympathy with the federal Liberal and National parties on economic and social issues,with Katter being opposed to neoliberalism and social liberalism.[15] 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 a percentage vote in the high sixties after preferences were distributed.[16][17][18][19]
In the aftermath of the 2010 hung federal election,Katter offered a range of views on the way forward for government. Two other former National Party MPs,both independents from rural electorates,Tony Windsor,Rob Oakeshott[20] decided to support a Labor government. Katter presented his 20 points document and asked the major parties to respond before deciding which party he would support.[21] As a result,he broke with Windsor and Oakeshott and supported the Liberal/National Coalition for Government. On 7 September 2010,Katter announced his support for a Liberal/National Party coalition minority government.[22]
On 5 June 2011,Katter launched a new political party,Katter's Australian Party,which he said would "unashamedly represent agriculture".[23] He made headlines after singing to his party's candidates during a meeting on 17 October 2011,saying it was his "election jingle".[24]
In the 2013 election,however,Katter faced his first serious contest since his initial run for Kennedy in 1993. He had gone into the election holding the seat with a majority of 18 percent,making it the second-safest seat in Australia. However,reportedly due to anger at his decision to back Kevin Rudd (ALP) for Prime Minister following Julia Gillard's (Prime Minister) live cattle export ban (Rudd,within weeks,reopened the live export market),Katter still suffered a primary-vote swing of over 17 points. His name heavily associated with Rudd. In the end,Katter was re-elected on Labor preferences,suffering a two-party swing of 16 points to the Liberal National party.[25][26]
In the 2016 election,Katter retained his seat of Kennedy,with an increased swing of 8.93 points toward him.[27]
On 15 August 2017 Katter announced that the Turnbull government could not take his support for granted in the wake of the 2017 Australian parliamentary eligibility crisis,which ensued over concerns that several MPs held dual citizenship and thus may be constitutionally ineligible to be in Parliament. Katter added that if one of the affected MPs,Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce,lost his seat,the Coalition could not count on his support for confidence and supply.[28]
In November 2018,Katter secured funds for three inland dam-irrigation schemes in North Queensland.[29]
Katter is known as an unabashed social conservative and agrarian socialist.[31] His views on economic matters echo "Old Labor" policy as it was before the Australian Labor Party split of 1955 as he opposes privatisation and economic deregulation and strongly supports traditional Country Party statutory marketing.[citation needed] The sobriquet 'Mad Katter' was coined by his opponents to describe his nationalistic developmentalism.[32][33][34] He has a very sporadic attendance record in parliament, and by the end of 2019 had only attended 42% of votes on the floor of parliament, the lowest of any member of parliament.[35]
An opponent of the tougher gun control laws introduced in the wake of the 1996 massacre in Port Arthur, Tasmania, Katter was accused in 2001 of signing a petition promoted by the Citizens Electoral Council (CEC), an organisation that claims the Port Arthur massacre was a conspiracy. He has stated that he always and still believes there was no conspiracy.[42]
Immigration
In 2017, Katter called for a "Trump-like travel ban" in Australia after a New South Welshman was arrested on terrorism charges.[43] That same year, Katter repeated a pledge used by the far-right organisation "Proud Boys", including that he was "a proud western chauvinist". When asked about the incident when it was publicised in 2019, Katter distanced himself from the group, saying "I don't know who this group is or anything about it".[44][45]
Indigenous Australians
In 1989, while Community Services Minister in the Queensland state government, Katter opposed installing condom vending machines in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to reduce the spread of AIDS, describing the plan instead as an attempt at eugenics, or "racist genocide".[46] He is also an opponent of voter identification laws, denouncing the Coalition's proposed introduction of them in 2021 as a racist system that would disenfranchise Aboriginal communities.[47] Although he did not support The Voice to Parliament, he did believe that the indigenous people of Australia deserved a referendum on how should be represented in parliament.[48]
LGBT rights
In November 1989, Katter claimed there were almost no homosexuals in North Queensland. He promised to walk backwards from Bourke across his electorate if they represented more than 0.001 percent of the population.[49][50] Katter also said "mind you, if there are more, then I might take to walking backwards everywhere!" Katter voted against the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act, 1994 (Cth), which decriminalised homosexuality in Tasmania.[51] He does not support same-sex marriage.[52] His response to the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey result was the subject of international attention, as in response he declared that the issue of crocodiles killing people in North Queensland was more pressing than same-sex marriage. Therefore he declared that "I ain't spending any time on it!" on the latter issue.[53] In December 2017, Katter was one of only four members of the House of Representatives to oppose the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 legalising same-sex marriage in Australia.[54]
Personal life
Katter occasionally identifies as being an Aboriginal Australian and has described himself as a blackfella in federal parliament, in interviews, during television appearances and at public events.[55][56][57][58][59] Katter claims that in his youth he was accepted as a member of the Kalkadoon tribe in the Cloncurry area, otherwise known as the "Curry mob", and said he has long since felt a deep connection with Aboriginal people.[56][60]
His son Robbie has been a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly since 2012, representing Mount Isa from 2012 to 2017, and Traeger since 2017.[61] He represents much of the territory that his father represented in state parliament.
Cloncurry is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia. It is informally known by local people as The Curry. In the 2021 census the locality of Cloncurry had a population of 3,167 people.
The Division of Kennedy is an Australian electoral division in the state of Queensland.
The City of Mount Isa is a local government area in north west Queensland. The City covers the urban locality of Mount Isa, the administrative centre, and surrounding area, sharing a boundary with the Northern Territory to the west.
Nanango is an electoral division in the state of Queensland, Australia. Notable towns include Nanango, Kingaroy and Crows Nest. It is currently held by former Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington of the Liberal National Party.
James Blundell is an Australian country music singer. Born in Stanthorpe, Queensland, Blundell first rose to prominence after being named "best new talent" at the 1987 Country Music Awards of Australia. Blundell has since released several albums in both Australia and the United States, with his most successful album This Road selling more than 145,000 copies in Australia. Blundell was an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in Queensland at the 2013 federal election, running for Katter's Australian Party. At the 2019 Country Music Awards of Australia, Blundell was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Keppel is an electoral district in the state of Queensland, Australia.
The Shire of Cloncurry is a local government area in North West Queensland, Australia. It covers an area of 47,971 square kilometres (18,521.7 sq mi), and has existed as a local government entity since 1884. The major town and administrative centre of the shire is Cloncurry.
The State of North Queensland is a proposed state of Australia, to be formed out of the current state of Queensland. The proposal does not have the support of the two major political parties that dominate politics in Queensland.
Robert Cummin Katter was an Australian politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1966 to 1990, representing the National Party. He served as Minister for the Army in the McMahon government in 1972. His sons Bob Katter Jr. and Carl Katter as well as grandson Robbie have also been involved in politics.
Southern Downs is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created in 2001 as a replacement for Warwick.
The 2012 Queensland state election was held on 24 March 2012 to elect all 89 members of the Legislative Assembly, a unicameral parliament.
Aidan Patrick McLindon is an Australian politician. He was first elected for the seat of Beaudesert to the Queensland State Parliament for the Liberal National Party at the 2009 state election. He resigned from that party to become an independent in May 2010, and in June 2010 he established The Queensland Party, which he merged with Katter's Australian Party in August 2011. He lost his seat to the LNP at the 2012 election. Bob Katter appointed McLindon as National Director for the newly created Katter's Australian Party. 18 months later McLindon resigned to spend more time with his family. McLindon established an independent political consultancy, AMac Consultants Pty Ltd, following the 2013 federal election.
The Queensland Party was a political party based in Queensland, Australia. It was registered with the Electoral Commission of Queensland between August 2010 and March 2012. The Queensland Party was formed by Aidan McLindon, the Member for Beaudesert, after he resigned from the Liberal National Party in May, 2010.
The electoral district of Flinders was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland.
Katter's Australian Party (KAP) is an agrarian populist political party in Australia that advocates for a synthesis of agrarian socialist economic policies and conservative social policies. It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission in 2011.
Robert Carl Ignatius Katter is an Australian politician. He serves as the member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland for Traeger, having previously represented Mount Isa from 2012 to 2017. He is the leader of Katter's Australian Party, having taken over from his father Bob Katter in February 2020.
The 2017 Queensland state election was held on 25 November 2017 to elect all 93 members of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, the unicameral Parliament of Queensland.
Traeger is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Queensland. It was created in the 2017 redistribution, and was named after Alfred Traeger, inventor of the pedal-powered radio, which was a significant contribution to people living in remote and rural communities in Queensland, such as those within Traeger.
William Fraser Anning is an Australian former politician who was a senator for Queensland from November 2017 to June 2019. Anning is known for holding far-right, nativist, and anti-Muslim views, and has been criticised for his use of the Nazi euphemism for the Holocaust, when he proposed a plebiscite to be the "Final Solution" to "the immigration problem" in his maiden speech. Anning also generated controversy for his statements shortly after the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, in which he blamed the attacks on "the immigration program which allowed Muslim fanatics to migrate".
The 2020 Queensland state election was held on 31 October to elect all 93 members to the 57th Legislative Assembly of Queensland. The Labor Party was returned to government for a third-term, led by incumbent premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. With 47 seats needed to form a majority government, Labor won 52 seats, including all but five in Brisbane, while the Liberal National Party won 34 seats and formed opposition. On the crossbench, Katter's Australian Party retained its 3 seats, the Queensland Greens picked up South Brisbane for a total of 2, Pauline Hanson's One Nation retained Mirani and independent Sandy Bolton retained her seat of Noosa.
↑ "Round About WITH PENELOPE". Sunday Mail. No.788. Queensland, Australia. 27 May 1945. p.7. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020– via National Library of Australia.
↑ Saulwick, Jacob; Davis, Mark. "Katter supports Abbott". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 22 December 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
↑ "Kennedy". Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
↑ Bickers, Claire; Le Messurier, Danielle (15 August 2017). "Katter refuses to guarantee support". The Courier Mail. News Corp Australia Network. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017.
↑ Lewis, Steven; Ironside, Robyn (25 August 2010). "Mad Katter denies kill threat". The Advertiser. Australia. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
↑ Seccombe, Mike (4 March 1994). "Bottom Line For Katter". The Sydney Morning Herald. p.2. Archived from the original on 10 October 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
↑ Wright, Tony (24 August 2011). "No gays, Bob? Try closer to home". The Sydney Morning Herald.
↑ Roberts, Greg (1 April 2000). "Katter-brained". The Sydney Morning Herald. p.42.
↑ Baker, Mark (6 April 2013). "Lone ranger". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022. One of Bob Katter's greatest passions is the plight of indigenous Australians. "I identify with them. I'm not white and I come from Cloncurry. I'm not too sure where my racial background has come from but I am not going to argue if someone calls me a blackfella. I'm not going to argue that I am not", he says.
↑ "Ministerial Statements: Closing The Gap". Parliament of Australia. Australian Government. 14 February 2017. Archived from the original on 13 August 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022. All of my life I have been called a blackfella. I take great pride in being identified that way and have identified that way on numerous occasions. We Cloncurry people call ourselves the 'Curry mob', and there is a bit of everything in the family tree. None of us look too black and none of us look too white!
↑ Reynolds, Emma (4 July 2017). "Viewers confused as Bob Katter reveals he 'identifies as a blackfella on occasion". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2022. Asked about land title, he replied: "I identify as a blackfella on occasion and I'll identify this time as a blackfella — we are the most land-rich people on Earth, we blackfellas in Australia, and we are not allowed to use it. We are not allowed to have a title deed..."
↑ Butler, Dan (22 April 2022). "Bob Katter again claims Aboriginality on Q&A". NITV News. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. While discussing the plight of the Murugappan family from Biloela and refugees policy more broadly, Katter referred to himself as a "Blakfulla". "I come from Cloncurry and I'm dark - I'm one of the Curry mob, you know? We made a hell of a bad mistake 150 years ago, letting you whitefellas in. I don't know that we should make the same mistake again."
↑ Calcino, Chris (5 July 2017). "Bob Katter explains 'blackfella' heritage after QANDA confusion". Cairns Post. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2022. "I lived out bush with First Australians in my mining days and many other roles… mustering cattle and those sort of things," he said. "Under the law, if you lived in an area and were accepted as part of a tribe in that area, you legally would be part of the tribe. I claim the law." Mr Katter said he had long felt a deep identification with Aboriginal people. "I come from Cloncurry, we always refer to ourselves as 'Curry mob'," he said. "In that situation, I identified very strongly with my cousin-brothers."
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