Wild quarrel over Queensland croc culling bill emerges as Bob Irwin Snr unleashes on maverick politician Bob Katter
The Crocodile Control and Conservation Bill 2025 introduced to Queensland's parliament by Katter's Australian Party (KAP) in February would legalise the culling of crocodiles in the state.
Debate over the proposed legislation has now boiled over, with Mr Katter and KAP now publicly trading jabs with the Irwin family following a lengthy submission on the bill by Australia Zoo.
The father of Australian conservationist icon Steve Irwin has told The Courier Mail he thinks Mr Katter is 'a d***head', telling the masthead to 'put it on record'.
'....and you can actually tell him who said it as well,' Mr Irwin said on Wednesday.
'He's not listening to the people that know, he has no idea of how the environment works, and that's his problem.'
The heated comments from the 86-year-old came after he appeared at Queensland's parliament for a hearing regarding crocodile management, according to the masthead.
The Australia Zoo founder's daughter-in-law Terri Irwin has spoken out about the culling proposal, calling the bill "lazy and sloppy" in a submission on the bill.
She claimed the legislation would increase the likelihood of crocodile attacks on people, and slammed the proposal as being an attempt to 'recycle old draft legislation'.
Mr Katter last week hit back at Ms Irwin for her criticism of his party's bill, calling out Australia Zoo for keeping the reptiles in captivity.
'She knows all about it, well I'm a bit fascinated by that. How would you know about crocodiles if you live in Brisbane?,' the federal member for Kennedy said in a video posted on social media.
'Oh that's right, she's got them all locked up in a cage in Brisbane, I'd forgotten about that.'
The maverick politician's son and KAP leader Robbie Katter took to social media on Wednesday to address Ms Irwin over the remarks detailed in the submission.
'You make money out of crocodiles by keeping them in cages. I don't know what qualifies you to give advice on the way we live up north,' the party leader said in a Facebook post.
Earlier on Wednesday, a cartoon was posted on the KAP Facebook page that appeared to show Ms Irwin, the ghost of Steve Irwin, and a crocodile angrily staring at a KAP member holding a gun with 'Cull Plan' written on it.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Australia will recognise a Palestinian state. But what does that actually mean?
Statehood would be unlikely to have an immediate effect for people in Gaza or on Israel's war with Hamas, but it could help influence conversations about the future of the Middle East. Albanese said on Monday that a two-state solution was 'humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East, and to bring an end to the conflict, suffering and starvation in Gaza'. What is Palestine's current status? Gaza and the West Bank form modern-day Palestine, officially referred to by the Australian government as the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It has no unified government, standing army or settled borders. Professor Ben Saul, chair of international law at the University of Sydney, said Palestine met most of the requirements to be legally considered a state, including having a permanent population and the ability to enter into international relations, but it did not have an effective, independent government. He said that because of its disputed status, other countries' recognition carried more power in supporting Palestinians' right to self-determination. Almost 150 of the 193 UN member states recognise Palestine as a state, including many developing countries. Militant group Hamas, designated a terrorist organisation by countries including Australia, has run the Gaza Strip for almost 20 years. The Palestinian Authority, through which Australia officially engages with Palestine, has limited autonomy in the West Bank. The Oslo Accords in the 1990s gave the authority direct control of about 20 per cent of the territory. There are numerous Israeli settlements across the West Bank, and these have been expanding. Israel retains control of security in much of the West Bank. According to the CIA, about 468,300 Israeli settlers lived in the West Bank in 2022. The agency estimated that as of 2021, 236,600 Israelis lived in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1980. Australia and most countries officially oppose the settlements on the basis they are illegal under international law. Israel disputes the illegality of the settlements. The Palestinian Authority, which was formed in the 1990s as a result of the Oslo Accords, is the territory's representative at the UN, where it is a non-member observer state and has no vote in the 193-member General Assembly. What will happen at the United Nations General Assembly session in September? Australia has joined France, the UK, and Canada in saying it will separately recognise a Palestinian state and use the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, which opens September 9, as the stage for that move. Professor Saul said the announcement at the UN was a political move rather than a legal one, but the choice of location was important. Loading 'Recognition is just the political act. You could do it by press release … it's just that doing it in a high-level, multilateral forum like [the UN] is absolutely designed to have a much greater impact politically,' he said. Saul said the declaration could come as a joint statement, but it was likely each leader would want to speak for their country. 'Some of these states have been issuing joint statements lately … so it could be done as a joint statement,' he said. 'I think it would more likely be that each leader, assuming they attend, would want to state their own government's position on it.' Does that mean Palestine will become a member of the United Nations? Probably not. Membership of the UN is separate from statehood and 'is open to all peace-loving states that accept the obligations contained in the United Nations charter.' The charter contains rules, including a prohibition on the use of force against other nations. To join, a prospective member must submit a letter to the secretary-general of the UN, currently António Guterres, stating it will abide by the charter. Then it requires the votes of at least nine of the 15 members of the UN Security Council. Any of the five permanent members – the US, China, Russia, France and the UK – is allowed to veto membership. Of the five permanent Security Council member countries, Russia and China recognise Palestine. If France and the UK do as they have indicated, the US will be the sole member not to recognise Palestine. The US has historically vetoed Palestinian applications. Loading If no state vetoed the application, the secretary-general would then present it to the full General Assembly of the UN, where it would require a two-thirds majority vote. The United States vetoed a push in April for Palestinian statehood. What conditions have been put on potential statehood? Speaking to reporters in Canberra on Monday, Albanese said recognition was happening in part because of commitments the government had received from the Palestinian Authority. Loading 'Our government has made it clear that there can be no role for the terrorists of Hamas in any future Palestinian state,' he said. 'This is one of the commitments Australia has sought and received from President [Mahmoud] Abbas and the Palestinian Authority.' Albanese said the PA had committed to demilitarise and hold general elections, and reaffirmed its recognition of Israel's right to exist – commitments he said were bolstered by the Arab League's previous 'unprecedented demand' that Hamas disband and surrender its weapons to the authority. 'This is an opportunity to deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine in a way that isolates Hamas, disarms it and drives it out of the region once and for all,' Albanese said. He and Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not say what Australia would do if the authority does not fulfil its promises. Loading The UK and Canada's recognition in September is also conditional. The UK will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, stops building settlements in the West Bank and commits to a two-state solution. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long rejected such terms and almost certainly won't agree by the deadline. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country's decision to recognise Palestine was predicated on the PA committing to 'much needed reform', the demilitarisation of the Palestinian state, and the release of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas. Do Palestinians support a two-state solution? Support for a two-state solution sat at about 30 per cent for both Palestinians and Israelis in 2022, down from about 50 per cent in 2016, according to the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research. Support has dropped even further in Israel since the October 7 attacks. The Palestinian Liberation Organisation, a nationalist coalition then led by Yasser Arafat, recognised Israel's right to exist in peace at the start of the US-backed peace process in 1993 that set up the Palestinian Authority. It was hoped that it would be a step towards statehood. Hamas' establishing charter called for the destruction of Israel, but in 2007, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said the group accepted the fact of an Israeli state but would not recognise it, according to the Wilson Centre. In 2017, the group presented a new charter accepting a Palestine with borders as they were immediately before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, signalling tacit acceptance of two states. Loading The Wilson Centre also records another Hamas leader, the late Ismail Haniyeh, saying after the October 7, 2023, massacres by the group that: 'All the normalisation and recognition processes, all the agreements that have been signed [with Israel] can never put an end to this battle.' With Reuters, AP
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Hastie's net zero push sparks spray at ‘braindead morons'
Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece unleashes a fiery attack on Coalition MPs opposing net zero. 'I think this is the latest example of the braindead morons on the hard right of the liberal and national parties, wanting to drive their votes to even lower depths,' Mr Reece said. 'They're just trying to alienate yet another constituency and make themselves completely irrelevant in Australian politics.'
Sky News AU
4 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Very sad day': Albanese ‘sold out' Israel as an ally
Shadow Attorney-General Julian Leeser condemns the Albanese government's decision to recognise Palestine as a state. 'This is a very sad day in Australian foreign policy, Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong have sold out a friend, an ally and a security partner for no apparent benefit,' Mr Leeser said. 'This is not going to bring peace to the middle east, it's not going to bring the hostages home, it's not going to see more people being fed it's not going to see a peace process that comes about. 'There is no way that Mr Albanese can guarantee that any of the conditions he put forward will be met.'
