Angry backlash over Katter gay marriage ad

Updated

Katter's Australian Party says it has already received hate mail and threatening phone calls over a controversial anti-gay marriage advertisement that aired on television last night.

The advertisement targets Australian Greens leader Bob Brown and Queensland Liberal National Party leader Campbell Newman on the issue of gay marriage.

"How well do you really know Campbell Newman?" a voice asks in the advertisement.

"Do you really think he will stand up for your family values? Do you really think he will stand up to the Greens and other minority groups?

"Then think again. The LNP leader supports gay marriage just like Greens leader Bob Brown."

The ad shows two shirtless men holding each other and features repeated grabs of Mr Newman saying "I support gay marriage".

The Queensland leader of Katter's Australian Party, Aidan McLindon, says the ad is confronting and it is meant to be.

"Campbell Newman has tip-toed on this issue and tried to say 'yes I am for gay marriage' on one hand, but then of course he gets all the Christian lobby groups and says another," he said.

Mr McLindon says his email, Twitter and Facebook accounts have been bombarded and people have made threatening calls.

"It is controversial and we have certainly copped a lot of flak," he said.

"But at the end of the day we are a party that stands for something. Unfortunately what you have seen with Campbell Newman he has tried to be everything for everybody and as a result he stands for nothing.

"We have just highlighted something that he said and if people want to get angry they have every right to be angry at Campbell for his position on this and being so public about it."

Mr McLindon says the ad will run all week.

Federal issue

Speaking this morning, Mr Newman labelled the advertisement homophobic and said his personal support for gay marriage would not overide his party's policy to scrap civil unions if it wins government.

"Gay marriage is a federal issue," he told Channel Ten.

"I've said in the past that I had a personal view but that is not the view that my party has taken to the election. It is not the view we have expressed when we voted against the civil union bill.

"I think, though, these ads don't do anything to take Queensland forward. They're more negative nasty ads."

Bob Katter says he does not think the advertisement is unfair.

"I've seen that clip, because I didn't believe it. Then they showed it to me and I've seen him saying that he is for same-sex marriage," he said.

"But if he is, he should be proud of his position."

But Mr Katter's gay half-brother Carl Katter has used the social networking site Twitter to slam the advertisement as homophobic, accusing Katter's Australia Party of using the politics of fear and hate to win votes.

Gay rights activist Tony Robertson says the ad is a disgrace, and he is not surprised by the angry backlash.

"Katter is using this issue for his own political gain," he said.

"This is political opportunism at its worst in the midst of an election campaign.

"This doesn't tell us anything about what Bob Katter and his or even Campbell Newman and his party intend to contribute to the development of this state."



He says the ad will backfire on the party and is urging lobby groups to demand the ad be taken off air.

"I don't see the purpose of these advertisements, I don't see what they are contributing to a healthy political debate in our community," he said.

"I think they are just a waste of money and a waste of time. If they keep running the ads they are going to lose support."

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh called the ad "bizarre and confused" but stopped short of calling for it to be withdrawn.

"While Mr Newman has publicly said he supports gay marriage, he and his party have universally opposed civil unions in the Parliament and he's now promised to repeal ALP's civil union laws if he is elected," she said.

"It's a very strange attack from the Bob Katter Party - it's not only tasteless but politically very confused."

Topics: lgbt, marriage, states-and-territories, elections, qld, longreach-4730, mount-isa-4825, townsville-4810, australia

First posted