Bob Katter threatens to punch Nine journalist over ‘Lebanese heritage’ comment
Bob Katter has threatened to punch a journalist at a press conference where he threw his support behind anti-immigration March for Australia protests planned on the weekend.
The independent MP for Kennedy called the press conference outside Queensland state parliament in Brisbane on Thursday morning, speaking with members of Katter’s Australian Party. […]
“You’ve got Lebanese heritage yourself,” 9News Queensland reporter Josh Bavas said, before Katter cut him off.
“I punch blokes in the mouth for saying that, don’t you dare say that,” Katter said. “My family have been in this country for 140 years …
“I have, on many occasions, punched blokes in the mouth, right? So I’m restraining myself today. Don’t say it!”
Katter then said he refused to take any more questions from Bavas, who continued to ask about his views on migration.
“There are people who have come here from other countries, like yourselves, like your family, that have good values,” Bavas put to him.
Katter then walked up to the Channel Nine reporter and shook his first at him.
“Don’t say that, because you’re a racist. You’re a racist. You cannot say what you just said without being identified as a racist … This man is a racist,” Katter said.
Bavas answered that he had not finished his question.
“If he asks a racist question which implies racism, I’m not going to answer it,” Katter said. “And I don’t consider him a proper Australian, a fair-minded Australian. He sees people as foreign because of their heritage,” Katter said.
Now, the article notes that Katter’s grandfather did move here in 1898 (not quite 140 years ago, Bob, but I’ll overlook that) and links to this fascinating ABC article, in which the story of him doing so and becoming a naturalised Aussie is told and it basically goes like this:
1905: “Hi, I’m Carl Katter from Lebanon and I want to become an Australian.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not white enough, fuck off.”1907: “Hi, I’m Carlyle Assad Khittar from Turkey and I want to become an Australian.”
“I thought you were Lebanese?”
“Me? No, must be… some other guy. I’m from Turkey.”
“…”
“The bit in Europe.”
“Oh well, that’s fine then. Welcome to Oz, white fella.”
So basically Carl the elder lied about about where he came from in order to be accepted as a proper, i.e. white, Australian as dictated by the laws of the time, whereby a European Turk was considered white but someone from “Assyria” (as it technically was) wasn’t for some reason. What interesting problems that might’ve posed for Jesus if he returned around 1905 and decided to set himself up here… In any case, though the article is fair and understanding to Carl the elder—he would hardly have been the only “Turk” doing that back then—it does seem to have produced the interesting side-effect that Bob now denies actually having Lebanese heritage despite the existence of, you know, written testimony that he does… and I don’t understand why, cos it’s not like old Carl’s going to be deported back to the old town at this point for lying about his past, and neither is Bob, so…
I don’t know, is he just so racist from living in Queensland that mentioning the mere fact that he has an ethnic heritage is enough to send him spiralling into this rage accusing the other person of being racist? What’s his problem with being partly Lebanese? Does he deny the “Turkish” ancestry as well? Cos he clearly has such a problem; this isn’t the first time this has happened, so it’s not just a new thing with him. And I don’t think anyone who’s ever brought that up to him actually did so to be racist themselves towards him, but rather to note that Bob is, frankly, an unspeakable fucking hypocrite when it comes to him opposing immigration (would he have let his own grandfather become naturalised?), and I’ve no doubt that’s what really gets to him more than anything. What a cunt.
