Robbie Katter defends Queensland flag-burning ban bill

Katter's Australian Party leader Robbie Katter has defended a Queensland bill that would make burning the Australian flag a criminal offence. He says the state government should not wait for Canberra to act.

The bill proposes a fine of nearly $7,000 or up to six months in jail. Mr Katter discussed it in an interview on 4BC Brisbane, ahead of Remembrance Day.

Premier David Crisafulli's government has declined to back the ban. It says a national approach should be led by the federal government. Mr Katter called that response a "gutless copout" and said that if something can be done at state level, and is the right thing to do, the state should act.

Mr Katter said the issue came up after a journalist told him the government would not move on it. He said he had assumed flag burning was already illegal and was told it was not. He said that if the major parties were unwilling to act, it was the Katter's Australian Party's role to put the matter before the Queensland Parliament.

He said Labor and the Liberal National Party had again "joined forces" to block a Katter's Australian Party initiative. The source does not set out the current parliamentary status of the bill.

Mr Katter argued the flag is a unifying symbol that should be protected. He said people remain free to protest and criticise the flag, but burning it disrespects those who fought and died under it. He also said some objections raised at committee hearings were weak, including that a flag could be confused with New Zealand's, or that a burning could be a peaceful protest.

The interview host said they backed the ban and thought the penalty should be harsher. The host compared flag burning with the penalties for defacing banknotes.

The views above are those of Mr Katter and the programme's host. The Queensland government's stated position, as relayed in the interview, is that the matter should be handled nationally.