The Cairns Diaries

Bob Katter facing campaign revolt
by: Jamie Walker and Sarah Elks
From: The Australian
March 14, 2012 12:00AM

BOB Katter's state election campaign in Queensland was unravelling last night as he faced an internal revolt over his party's anti-gay marriage advertising and financial backer James Packer disowned the TV spot.

Four of Mr Katter's north Queensland candidates, including sitting state MP Shane Knuth, slammed the ad. Its "negativity" was regrettable, said the Liberal National Party defector.

Damian Byrnes, who is considered to be among Katter's Australian Party's better prospects, in the Cairns-based seat of Mulgrave, told The Australian the ad was "negative, unnecessary and inappropriate".

In a blistering email to the party's Brisbane head office, he demanded that the ad immediately be pulled. "I hate the TV advertisement and I will publicly say so," Mr Byrnes wrote. "We have run a clean campaign till now and it is not appropriate."

As the fallout widened, with the ABC standing down a radio presenter in Western Australia for providing the voiceover, Mr Packer condemned the ad and its targeting of LNP leader Campbell Newman.

The billionaire businessman said of Mr Katter: "I admire his passion for this great country and that's why I donated to him. But I don't agree with all his policies and views and I certainly don't support this advertisement or his attack on Campbell Newman."

Mr Katter dug in, saying he did not resile from the ad's content "one iota" and it would continue to run, despite the backlash.

The spot, which has aired statewide since Sunday, features an image of two men hugging and brackets Mr Newman with Greens leader Bob Brown in supporting gay marriage.

Mr Newman has said that, while this was a personal view he had expressed in the past, he now accepted LNP policy to oppose same-sex marriage and a new law in Queensland allowing civil unions for gay couples.

Mr Katter said he and Mr Packer would agree to disagree on the issue, even though the businessman had donated $250,000 to his campaign. "Ninety per cent of things we (Mr Packer and I) agree on, but some things we don't," Mr Katter said.

One of his fellow crossbenchers in federal parliament, Andrew Wilkie, was scathing of Mr Packer's donation to KAP, branding it "deeply unethical".

Mr Packer has extensive casino investments, including Melbourne's high-rolling Crown operation, and lobbied hard against Mr Wilkie's proposals for sweeping poker machine reforms.

"I think for one of Australia's richest men, one of our biggest operators of poker machines and other forms of gambling, to hand over $250,000 to a crossbencher at a time when the parliament is considering poker machine regulation is deeply unethical and should be illegal," Mr Wilkie said.

"It's no better than someone handing over a brown paper bag in a developing country with $250,000."

In a statement, the ABC confirmed Suzanne McGill, a weekend presenter for regional radio in WA, had been taken off air pending an investigation into the work she did to voice the KAP ad. A spokeswoman said McGill had been bound by ABC policy to seek permission to take the job, which she had failed to do, even though she was employed only casually. McGill could not be contacted.

Damian Byrnes, who is considered to be among Katter's Australian Party's better prospects, in the Cairns-based seat of Mulgrave, told The Australian the ad was "negative, unnecessary and inappropriate".

you betcha! still reporting on the news from the beach

... If you were to judge Queenslanders on the antics of Clive Palmer and Bob Katter, you would have to wonder whether there was something peculiar in the water up north.

Mr Palmer, the mining billionaire, called a press conference yesterday to deliver his reaction to the federal government's new mining tax but, puffed up with indignation about a near-impenetrable CIA plot, all but forgot to do so.

Mr Katter and his hat, meanwhile, took to rap dancing. ...