Bob Katter

Robert Bellarmine Carl Katter (born 22 May 1945) is an Australian politician who has served as the member of parliament (MP) for the Queensland division of Kennedy since 1993 and father of the House since 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>"Bob Katter Fact Check: never heard of Gays before 50? Template:Webarchive", QNews, January 2019.</ref> He was active in Queensland state politics from 1974 to 1992 and was a member of the National Party until 2001, after which he left to sit as an independent until he formed Katter's Australian Party as his own party in 2011.

Katter was born in Cloncurry, Queensland. His father, Bob Katter Sr., was also a politician. Katter was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1974 state election, representing the seat of Flinders. He was elevated to cabinet in 1983, under Joh Bjelke-Petersen, and was a government minister until the National Party's defeat at the 1989 state election.

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 five times for his own party.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His son, Robbie Katter, is a state MP in Queensland, the third generation of the family to be a member of parliament.<ref name="APHbio">Template:Cite Au Parliament</ref>

Early life, education and career

Katter was born on 22 May 1945 in Cloncurry, Queensland.<ref name="APHbio"/> He is one of three children born to Mabel Joan (Template:Nee) and Robert Cummin Katter; his mother died in 1971 and his father had three more children with his second wife, including Carl.<ref name=adb>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref name=adb/> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Katter received his early education in Cloncurry, where he was one of only six at his school who finished year 12.<ref name = "monthly">Nowra, Louis, "The Heart and Mind of Bob Katter Template:Webarchive", The Monthly, April 2013.</ref> He attended Mount Carmel College in Charters Towers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and St Leo's College.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He also served in the Citizens Military Forces, with the rank of second lieutenant.<ref name="APHbio"/>

Returning to Cloncurry, he worked in his family's businesses, and as a labourer with the Mount Isa Mines.<ref name = "monthly"/><ref name = "CFMEU"/>

State politics (1974–1992)

File:Bob Katter MLA.jpg

Katter in 1988

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Katter (left) at a Queensland Day ceremony with Mike Reynolds (right) Template:Circa.

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.<ref name="APHbio"/>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bjelke-Petersen subsequently endorsed Katter to succeed Ahern as leader and premier.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Katter returned to cabinet after only a month, following Cooper's successful ouster of Ahern in September 1989.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His term as a minister ended following the government's defeat at the 1989 state election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He would not face another contest nearly that close for two decades.

In 1994, Katter advocated against the Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994,<ref name="act1994">Template:Cite web</ref> a federal law that bypassed Tasmania's anti-gay laws,<ref>Tasmania at the time had the world's harshest anti-homosexuality laws. Template:Cite newsTemplate:Dead link</ref> claiming the government was "helping the spread of AIDS" and legitimizing "homosexual behavior". He also believed the laws jeopardized states' rights in Australia.<ref>Peake, Ross, "Row ahead: Libs back gay stance Template:Webarchive", The Canberra Times, Fri 23 Sep 1994, page 1.</ref>

Katter was re-elected with a large swing in 1996, and was re-elected almost as easily in 1998.<ref name="psephos1998">Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He made headlines after singing to his party's candidates during a meeting on 17 October 2011, saying it was his "election jingle".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Katter tally room.jpg

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>"Katter in clear" Template:Webarchive, northweststar.com.au. Retrieved 18 May 2017.</ref>

In the 2016 election, Katter retained his seat of Kennedy, with an increased swing of 8.93 points toward him.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2018, Katter secured funds for three inland dam-irrigation schemes in North Queensland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the 2019 election, Katter was returned to his seat of Kennedy with a swing of 2.9 points towards him, in spite of a redistribution of his electorate.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In the 2022 election, he was re-elected again, and became the Father of the Australian House of Representatives following the retirement of Kevin Andrews.

In July 2024 it was announced that a portrait of Katter has been commissioned to be hung in the federal parliament.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was unveiled in November 2025.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 2025 election, he was re-elected again.

Political views

Template:Conservatism in Australia Katter is an agrarian socialist and social conservative.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Like his father, his views on economic matters echo 1950s "Old Labor" policy as it was before the 1955 DLP split. He opposes privatisation and economic deregulation and strongly supports traditional Country Party statutory marketing.Template:Citation needed In an interview in 1994, he cited his political heroes as ALP figures Jack Lang and Ted Theodore and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, but said Lang was ultimately a failure and he was "aiming to be a John McEwen".<ref name=motormouth>Template:Cite news</ref> The sobriquet 'Mad Katter' was coined by his opponents to describe his nationalistic developmentalism.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

As of 2020, Katter described himself as belonging to the "hard left", citing his continuing membership of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union.<ref>Interview with Bob Katter: "‘Everyone tells me I’m crazy, and I actually am’: Katter" Template:Webarchive, Sky News, Feb 16, 2020.</ref><ref name = "CFMEU">Template:Cite web</ref> In a 2022 interview with The Chaser, Katter claimed that he had never pledged allegiance to the Queen of Australia when entering parliament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Abortion

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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2006, Katter voted against a federal bill which would increase the availability of abortion drugs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Environment

Katter has opposed enacting climate change legislation to control emissions.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He advocates for measures that reduce carbon footprints.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Katter has championed the mandating of ethanol fuel content. He has additionally pioneered protests against imported bananas, and is an opponent of the concentration of the Australian supermarket industry amongst Coles and Woolworths.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Gun laws

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 has and still believes there was no conspiracy.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Immigration

In 2017, Katter called for a "Trump-like travel ban" in Australia after a New South Welshman was arrested on terrorism charges.<ref name="Chronicle 2017">Template:Cite web</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2025, Katter called a press conference to support an anti-immigration March for Australia rally. When questioned by a reporter about Katter's Lebanese heritage, Katter threatened him and waved a fist in front of his face.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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".<ref>Condom Decision "Racist Genocide Template:Webarchive", Strait Talking, Torres News (Thursday Island, QLD), Thu 24 Aug 1989.</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2022, he announced that he 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

North Queensland statehood

File:North Queensland Flag (Bob Katter Proposal).svg

Proposed flag for North Queensland designed by Katter in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Better source needed</ref>

Katter supports North Queensland statehood.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Katter also said "mind you, if there are more, then I might take to walking backwards everywhere!" Katter voted against the Template:Cite Legislation AU, which decriminalised homosexuality in Tasmania.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He does not support same-sex marriage.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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 every three months was more pressing than same-sex marriage. Therefore he declared that "I ain't spending any time on it!" on the latter issue.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=palm>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=palm/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He represents much of the territory that his father represented in state parliament.

Katter supports the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League (NRL).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

See also

• Politics of Queensland
• Lebanese Australians
• Political families of Australia
• List of longest-serving members of the Parliament of Australia

External links

• Maiden Speech – Australian House of Representatives (6 May 1993), aph.gov.au
• Bob Katter Oral History, State Library of Queensland

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