KEY POINTS

  • Katter, 72, pulled the knife during a live discussion on Sky News Australia.
  • He gets through airport security by claiming it was a "letter opener".

An eccentric Australian politician has brandished a knife on live TV during a discussion on a national news station.

Bob Katter, a 72-year-old independent politician from Queensland, was speaking to Samantha Maiden on Sky News on 8 February.

As discussion turned to his knife, which he had brought into the studio, Katter pulled it out and displayed it to the camera. He then boasted he could get it through airport security by claiming it was a "letter opener", and said he could access the Australian parliament with it because he had "influence".

"This is terrible because it sounds so pathetic, like I've taken a line out of Crocodile Dundee, but he pulls out [the knife] and says, 'You have a knife'.

"And I said 'That's not a knife my friend, that is my letter opener.

"Believe me, my knife is much more formidable than my letter opener," he said.

The House of representatives legislator also presented the same knife during an interview with Channel 10 News the previous night. He also performed a host of movie character impressions, including Crocodile Dundee by uttering its famous quote: "That's not a knife, this is a knife."

Bob Katter
Bob Katter pulls a knife during an interview on Channel 10 News Channel 10
Australia