Bob Katter answers Cairns band's crocodile ballad with lyrical threat
Bob Katter says he loves crocodiles — in fact, he ate one at the pub the other night. But when a Far North band wrote a song about him from the croc's point of view, he fired back with a lyrical threat.
The Cherabins, a Cairns band, have penned a song from the perspective of a crocodile criticizing Bob Katter, urging him to move to Parramatta. Crocodile conservationists are urging Katter to abandon his push for a legalised crocodile cull after listening to the lyrics. Katter, an 81-year-old former parliamentarian, has been an outspoken advocate for crocodile population control for over two decades.
His party, Katter's Australian Party, has introduced five bills in state parliament since 2017, calling for various forms of culling, egg harvesting or hunting safaris. The Queensland government recently implemented crocodile management reforms, but they are far from Katter's demands. The band acknowledged the heated nature of the issue in Far North Queensland, where people fear crocodiles while trying to swim at the beach.
They wrote the song to represent the crocodile's point of view, hoping to foster a better understanding between the two sides. The song closes with a quote mimicking Katter's famous remarks during the 2017 same-sex marriage postal survey, "Every three months, a person is torn to pieces by a crocodile in North Queensland." However, Katter responded by penning his own lyrics, stating he loves crocodiles and even ate one at a local pub.
Wildlife advocate Amanda French from CROC QLD urged Katter to heed the song's message and focus on changing people's behavior in crocodile habitats instead of eradicating them, emphasizing that culling is ineffective according to scientific research.
Written by urgent.news from ABC News AU's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
