Queensland MP Bob Katter has released a controversial new election ad where he shoots two people -- representing the Labor and Liberal parties -- to death, as they argue over whether Australia is "for sale".
Katter uploaded the video to his Youtube page on Tuesday. It shows two men with stockings over their faces, with the acronyms LNP and ALP on their shirts, hammering a sign saying "Australia for sale" into the ground. Katter comes along and takes down the sign. The men come back and replace the sign. Katter then returns, writes the word "not" on the sign.
The ad then cuts to Katter holding a gun, blowing smoke off the barrel, and smiling. The camera zooms out to show the two men lying in the field, apparently dead.
On his Facebook page, Katter calls the video "Perhaps the most wicked campaign ad for 2016?" The video credits the " ALP and LNP faceless men" and also says "Big thanks to the Betoota Advocate", referencing the satirical news site, whose writers are presumably the two men in the video.
The Huffington Post Australia submitted questions to Katter's office regarding whether it was an appropriate time to release such an ad, just days after the worst mass shooting in American history in Orlando; whether gun violence is an appropriate message for a political ad; and more information around the general message of the ad, and whether it means Katter will aim to physically harm other politicians in the parliament.
In response, Katter said "Would the Huffington Post like ban all Western cartoons? I'd like to take your name down on the 'Australian Inquisition' for Political Correctness."