An outspoken Australian MP has stirred up a fierce backlash after controversially labelling homosexuality a “fashion trend” and describing an anti-bullying campaign as “pro-homosexual.”

Queensland MP Bob Katter, 73, also claimed he had “never seen or heard of a homosexual person” until 1996, when he was 50. “In my whole life up to 50, I had never seen or heard of a homosexual person,” the controversial politician said.

“Now it’s fashionable, it’s just like a fashion trend, tomorrow there’ll be another fashion,” he added. “I just don’t want to waste any time on it.”

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The leader of the right-wing Katter Australia Party (KAP) made the comments during a visit to the town of Dalby while on the campaign trail for his party’s candidate in the upcoming federal election, Anthony Wallis.

Dalby was one of the few Queensland electorates to vote against same-sex marriage in Australia’s 2017 vote.

During the visit Katter also offered his “sort of controversial” opinion on anti-bullying programs in schools, which he called “pro-homosexual”.

“It’s sort of controversial,” he said. “‘Stop bullying’ which is pro-homosexual, is the way I would describe the ‘Stop Bullying’ campaign.”

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Katter is known for his outrageous anti-LGBT comments which include an accusation that Australian homosexuals have stolen the word ‘gay’ from straight people, and an infamous statement that he would “walk backwards to Bourke” (his hometown) if there were gay people in his electorate.

The comments, while unsurprising for most of the Australian public, have sparked a number of baffled tweets questioning how the MP could not have heard of homosexuality for the majority of his life.

In 2018, Senator Fraser Anning, another member of KAP found himself in hot water for saying that Muslim Australians are unable to integrate and for seeking a “final solution” to Muslim immigration. His use of the notorious term, used by Nazis during the holocaust, led to widespread condemnation from his fellow politicians.

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