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]
Early life, education and career
Katter was born on 22 May 1945 in Cloncurry, Queensland.[1] He is the one of three children born to Mabel Joan (née Horn) and Robert Cummin Katter; his mother died in 1971 and his father had three more children with his second wife, including Carl.[5]
Katter's father was raised in Cloncurry where he ran a clothing shop and managed a local cinema. He was elected to Cloncurry Shire Council in 1946 and to federal parliament in 1966.[5] Katter is of Lebanese descent through his paternal grandfather Carl Robert Katter (originally spelled "Khittar"), who was born in Bsharri and immigrated to Australia with his parents in 1898. He was naturalised in 1907, after previously being refused naturalisation under the White Australia policy.[6]
Katter received his early education in Cloncurry, where he was one of only six at his school who finished year 12.[7] He attended Mount Carmel College in Charters Towers.[8] He went on to 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[9] and St Leo's College.[10] 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".[11] He also served in the Citizens Military Forces, with the rank of second lieutenant.[12]
Returning to Cloncurry, he worked in his family's businesses, and as a labourer with the Mount Isa Mines.[7][13]
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]
Katter was a strong supporter of Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. In August 1989 he abruptly resigned from the cabinet of Bjelke-Petersen's successor Mike Ahern, along with fellow cabinet ministers Russell Cooper and Paul Clauson. Their resignation was reportedly an attempt to force Ahern's removal as party leader.[14] Bjelke-Petersen subsequently endorsed Katter to succeed Ahern as leader and premier.[15]
Katter returned to cabinet after only a month, following Cooper's successful ouster of Ahern in September 1989.[16] As mines minister, he was the subject of a no-confidence motion from the Queensland Chamber of Mines in November 1989, following his proposed changes to mining legislation that were perceived as favouring the interests of graziers over mining companies.[17] His term as a minister ended following the government's defeat at the 1989 state election.[18]
Federal politics (1993–present)
Nationals MP (1993–2001)
Following his father's retirement from federal parliament, Katter was an unsuccessful candidate for National Party preselection for the seat of Kennedy prior to the 1990 federal election..[19]
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.[20] He would not face another contest nearly that close for two decades.
In 1994, Katter advocated against the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994,[21] a federal law that bypassed Tasmania's anti-gay laws,[22] claiming the government was "helping the spread of AIDS" and legitimizing "homosexual behavior". He also believed the laws jeopardized states' rights in Australia.[23]
Katter was re-elected with a large swing in 1996, and was re-elected almost as easily in 1998.[24] 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.[25]
Independent MP (2001–2011)
In 2001, Katter 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.[26][27][28][29]
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[30] 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.[31] 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.[32]
Katter's Australian Party (2011–present)
On 5 June 2011, Katter launched a new political party, Katter's Australian Party, which he said would "unashamedly represent agriculture".[33] He made headlines after singing to his party's candidates during a meeting on 17 October 2011, saying it was his "election jingle".[34]
Katter in 2012
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.[35][36]
In the 2016 election, Katter retained his seat of Kennedy, with an increased swing of 8.93 points toward him.[37]
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.[38]
In November 2018, Katter secured funds for three inland dam-irrigation schemes in North Queensland.[39]
In 1980, Katter seconded a motion by Don Lane calling on the Queensland state government to "protect the lives of unborn Queensland children being killed by abortion".[49]
In 2006, Katter voted against a federal bill which would increase the availability of abortion drugs.[50]
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.[54]
Immigration
In 2017, Katter called for a "Trump-like travel ban" in Australia after a New South Welshman was arrested on terrorism charges.[55] 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".[56][57]
Indigenous Australians
In 1987, as Queensland minister for Aboriginal and Islander affairs, Katter credited the state government with reducing Aboriginal deaths in custody by introducing "new detention procedures to divert people arrested for minor offences away from traditional custody after a three-hour cooling off period".[58] In 1989 he 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".[59]
Katter 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.[60] In 2022, he announced that would not support an Indigenous Voice to Parliament proposal, but did believe that the indigenous people of Australia deserved a referendum on how they should be represented in parliament.[61]
North Queensland statehood
Proposed flag for North Queensland designed by Katter in 2020.[62]
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.[64][65] 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.[66] He does not support same-sex marriage.[67] 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.[68] 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.[69]
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.[70][71][72][73][74] 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.[71][75]
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.[76] He represents much of the territory that his father represented in state parliament.
^"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.
^Dale, Allan (5 May 2015). "North Queensland's powerful trio will shake up the state". The Conversation. New northern allies. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2024. In a vast state governed from the south-east capital of Brisbane, north Queenslanders have historically struggled to have their concerns heard and taken seriously – so much so that federal MP Bob Katter and others have long pushed for north Queensland to become its own state.
^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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