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17 Jun, 2016 13:29

'Executing' rivals: Aussie MP releases 'disturbing' campaign video in the wake of Orlando (VIDEO)

'Executing' rivals: Aussie MP releases 'disturbing' campaign video in the wake of Orlando (VIDEO)

Veteran Australian MP Bob Katter has sent the internet into overdrive after an election campaign ad showing him ‘executing’ his political rivals went viral.

In the ad Katter is seen repeatedly removing a real-estate sign placed in the middle of the outback by two figures representing the Liberal Party of Australia and the Australian Labor Party. The sign reading: ‘Australia For Sale’ is then altered by the MP to read, ‘Australia NOT for Sale’.

The next shot shows a smirking Katter blowing the tip of a smoking revolver and, as the camera pans skyward, the bodies of the other two men can be seen lying on the ground.

The MP for Kennedy, Queensland, is known for his staunch support of rural Australia and land rights for locals, and is currently campaigning in Australia’s parliamentary election. He has voted against gun-control legislation and same-sex marriage in a career spanning more than 40 years.

While, the murder of British Labour MP Jo Cox took place after the release of the ad, many felt Katter's ‘execution’ video was in poor taste and should not have been broadcast following the Orlando massacre in Florida.

Katter was unrepentant, however, insisting he didn’t know anything about Omar Mateen’s nightclub rampage, which killed 49 people.

“I don’t follow the media, I don’t watch the television...I haven’t read the newspapers in ages,” he claimed in a TV interview, the Courier Mail reports.

“The political correctness brigade - they're out there and they are trying to cloud the issue,” continued Katter, before imploring his fellow Australians to “keep their sense of humor while the country is being sold off.”

Katter’s half brother, Carl, who is a member of the Australian Labor Party and openly gay, was furious and gobsmacked at his sibling’s ignorance over the Orlando attack.

He described the ad as “offensive, violent and very disrespectful”, telling Same Street he found the timing of its release “greatly disturbing”.

However, some on Twitter focused on what they saw as the hypocrisy and political opportunism of Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in criticizing Katter’s ad while Turnbull himself recently hosted a controversial anti-gay Imam.

Afterwards, Turnbull said he regretted inviting Sheikh Shady Al-Suleiman to his event, adding that “homophobia should be condemned everywhere,”ABC reports.

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