Albanese unveils Bob Katter’s official portrait at Parliament House Member’s Hall
Every time Bob Katter passes by the portrait of Charles McDonald, Kennedy’s first member and the Labor Party’s first Speaker of the House in 1910, he salutes the magnificently moustachioed pioneer with his fist raised in honor of the “great man.”
On Thursday, Katter was in the chamber to unveil a portrait of himself commissioned to sit alongside depictions of royals, governors, speakers and prime ministers to honor his half-century of parliamentary service in the Queensland parliament; 18 years in the Queensland parliament and then 32 years representing the by now large, north Queensland electorate.
Bob Katter admires the portrait that artist David Darcy is looking at.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Initial rumors that Katter would attend the event in an inflatable pig costume were dashed: Katter wore the black three-piece suit that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the crowd was “inspired by Bob’s belief that James Garner looks good in one outfit.” maverick”, a 1950s western TV movie about cunning rogues who shoot from the hip.
The 80-year-old’s voice isn’t as strong as it was eight years ago when Katter hit world headlines from gay marriage to deadly crocodiles, but he took to the podium to imply he was still up for a fight, or as he put it, “going to the back of the bar.” This may or may not be a metaphor.
“I’ve been in the back of the bar three or four times. Someone bent my nose a little bit,” he said. “I’ll continue.”
He didn’t. Instead, he said through his reading glasses: “It’s a matter of honor in Australia… and if I had a bit of an argument with a guy a few weeks ago, you know, in the back of the bar, mate.”
Bob Katter and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shake hands in front of the former’s portrait.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
So there’s no need to apologize for the unprovoked threat to punch Nine journalist Josh Bavas in the mouth in August for asking about the MP’s Lebanese heritage, days before the country’s major anti-immigration marches.
Instead Katter paid tribute to the old “fighting famous” Katters, his ancestors who served at Gallipoli, were held at Changi or sat at Cloncurry airfield with their guns ready to shoot any Japanese aircraft out of the sky.
