{"id":103700,"date":"2025-08-29T06:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T06:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103700\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T06:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T06:12:10","slug":"nine-demands-bob-katter-apologise-for-aggressive-behaviour-towards-reporter-and-considers-legal-action-bob-katter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/103700\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine demands Bob Katter apologise for \u2018aggressive behaviour\u2019 towards reporter and considers legal action | Bob Katter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine Entertainment is considering legal action against Bob Katter<\/a> after the independent MP called Nine\u2019s Queensland reporter Josh Bavas a racist and threatened to punch him at a press conference.<\/p>\n

The Brisbane outburst came after Katter expressed support for anti-immigration March for Australia protests planned for the weekend. Bavas asked:<\/a> \u201cYou\u2019ve got Lebanese heritage yourself \u2026 \u201d before Katter cut him off.<\/p>\n

The member for Kennedy walked up to the Channel Nine reporter and shook his fist at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t say that, because you\u2019re a racist. You\u2019re a racist. You cannot say what you just said without being identified as a racist \u2026 this man is a racist,\u201d Katter said. The exchange was filmed.<\/p>\n

\"AustralianAustralian politician threatens to punch journalist who asked about his Lebanese heritage \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Nine executives were discussing taking defamation action against Katter, sources said. The company has demanded an apology from Katter.<\/p>\n

Bavas was criticised online by people who appeared to agree with Katter and called on the reporter to apologise because \u201che was the one doing the baiting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Katter, 80, said on Thursday that Bavas was not \u201ca proper Australian, a fair-minded Australian\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI punch blokes in the mouth for saying that, don\u2019t you dare say that,\u201d Katter told the reporter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy family have been in this country for 140 years. I have, on many occasions, punched blokes in the mouth, right? So I\u2019m restraining myself today. Don\u2019t say it!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Katter refused to take more questions from Bavas, who continued to ask about his views on migration.<\/p>\n

Bavas, who has covered Katter for more than 15 years as a former ABC north Queensland<\/a> reporter, said he was surprised by the outburst as he believed the question was benign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an extraordinary press conference where a federal parliamentarian was talking about taking names on lists and deportation of residents, I was trying to ask a question about the value migrant Australian families, including the Katters and my own family, bring to this nation through shared values,\u201d he said in a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my near 20 years in journalism, I\u2019ve never experienced that kind of reaction from an elected representative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nine\u2019s executive director of news and current affairs, Fiona Dear, said Bavas was just doing his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Katter\u2019s aggressive behaviour and threats were unacceptable,\u201d Dear said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis baseless and offensive accusation of racism is an irresponsible attempt to shut down a legitimate line of questioning and warrants a public apology from Mr Katter. We stand by Josh Bavas and will continue to report without fear or favour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former MP George Christensen<\/a> subsequently posted on Facebook that people should disrespect journalists \u2013 alongside a drawing of a muscular boxing kangaroo with an Australian flag.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Bob Katter\u2019s spray, it\u2019s your patriotic duty to disrespect journalists,\u201d he said. Many of the 600 comments were supportive of the sentiment and called on Bavas to apologise to Katter.<\/p>\n

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The prime minister, Anthony Albanese<\/a>, was critical of Katter on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBob Katter I like, but Bob Katter needs to have a look at that footage. Have a look at himself, frankly, and recognise that that\u2019s just not what we expect of any Australian, let alone someone who\u2019s in public office,\u201d he told Nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re speaking to someone called Albanese. We\u2019ve got a Senate leader called Wong. Migration enriches. Except for the First Australians, we\u2019re all either migrants or descendants of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition<\/a> senator Jane Hume called for Katter to face consequences for threatening violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should always be able to feel safe and respected at work \u2013 journalists and politicians,\u201d she told the ABC on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of threatening violence is entirely unacceptable. There must be consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katter\u2019s grandfather, Carlyle Assad Khittar, migrated from Lebanon in 1898<\/a>. Bavas later in Thursday\u2019s press conference reminded Katter that they had spoken before about his Lebanese heritage.<\/p>\n

Katter has previously become angry<\/a> when asked about his ancestry in the context of his anti-immigration views<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2018, he told Sky News reporter Tom Connell that he needed \u201ca big hiding\u201d for raising the issue, saying it was \u201cracist\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bavas said his full question to Katter, which was cut off, was: \u201cYou\u2019ve got Lebanese heritage yourself, what\u2019s your message for hard-working migrants who come here and have the shared values you have?\u201d<\/p>\n

Queensland police said they were \u201caware of an incident that was presented in the media yesterday at Speakers\u2019 Corner, Brisbane<\/a> City\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice have not received a formal complaint regarding this incident at this time,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Katter was contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine Entertainment is considering legal action against Bob Katter after the independent MP called Nine\u2019s Queensland reporter Josh…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-103700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}