Katter brothers poles apart over homophobic ad

An advertisement published by the Australian Party launched by leader Bob Katter. Photo / Supplied

The gay half-brother of Bob Katter, the conservative Queensland politician whose Australia Party is contesting this month's state election, yesterday launched a television commercial attacking a controversial ad by the party opposing gay marriage.

Bob Katter's advertisement has been denounced as homophobic by gay and lesbian groups, and condemned by both Labor and the Liberal Party.

Now Carl Katter, who is estranged from his half-brother, has hit back with a commercial which urges Queenslanders: "Don't vote for hate."

Carl told Sky News yesterday that when he first saw the Australia Party's ad - which highlights the Liberal National Party (LNP) leader Campbell Newman's support for gay marriage - he thought it was "a bit of a joke, a bit of a parody ... unfortunately it's actually a sad effort on their behalf to try and win some of those rightwing conservative votes".

His ad - made in conjunction with GetUp!, the activist group, and launched outside the Queensland Parliament - features him speaking against a backdrop of the Australia Party's ad, which shows two shirtless men embracing.

"When I saw my half-brother's homophobic ad, my thoughts went straight to the young Australians who will see this on television, telling them that they don't belong, that they're somehow inferior," he says.

"Our nation's leaders should not be telling the community that it's okay to discriminate. It's not okay for politicians to get away with hatred and bigotry."

The Australia Party - founded by Bob Katter, the federal independent MP - is contesting its first election in Queensland. With its conservative social values and its pitch to disenchanted rural voters, it has been likened by some to Pauline Hanson's One Nation party.

In its TV commercial, which has been criticised by the Queensland Premier Anna Bligh as "way, way beyond what we expect in a political campaign", the party warns voters that Newman cannot be trusted on the gay marriage issue.

While Newman personally supports gay marriage, he has said he accepts the official LNP line, which opposes new Queensland legislation allowing civil unions for gay couples.

The Australia Party ad has been condemned by four of its own candidates, as well as by the federal shadow treasurer Joe Hockey, and the former Liberal Party leader Malcolm Turnbull.

Carl Katter, a board member of the lobby group Australian Marriage Equality, said the ad was "an insult to Queenslanders, [who] are so over being portrayed as bigots and homophobes".

He added: "Are we living in the 50s now? These people wear religion on their sleeve; I can't think of anything more un-Christian than this kind of victimisation they've undertaken."

The half-brothers have not spoken for many years. Bob said recently that he admired Carl's "candour, his forthrightness". But the latter told Sky yesterday: "I don't think he really does respect my involvement in wanting to create a fairer and equal Australia."

GetUp! wants to air its ad as much as it can before the March 24 election.