WILD CARD IN DECK
THEY’VE called him the joker for years, but now it’s official.
Lifelong politician, campaigner for the battler and the bush, proud North Queenslander and federal member for Kennedy Bob Katter has been immortalised on a satirical Parliament
House deck of cards as the joker.
The cards feature cartoons of the nation’s favourite politicians, political commentators and comedians including Scomo in a Hawaiian shirt and Sharks cap, Bill Shorten and Ita Buttrose, as well as Kevin Rudd and Paul Keating.
There’s Tony Abbott in Speedos, Barnaby Joyce, Annastacia Palaszczuk and the Queensland hard border, and the other joker is Pauline Hanson.
Mr Katter said being cast as the joker in the Parliament House of Cards created by Alex Godwin was “pretty fitting actually”.
“The joker was, in the king’s palace, a critical and
extremely influential member of the court,” Mr Katter said.
“He is always by the king’s side, always there to give wise counsel.
“He did this by way of humour, and often acting in a most outrageous manner; starting with his dress.”
But Mr Katter said being cast as the joker did not come without its concerns.
“The worrying part for me, is that the king’s joker often had his head cut off because of the undue influence of giving the wrong advice,” Mr Katter laughed.
“But I really think I’m safe on both counts.”
Mr Katter’s faithful supporters told him he had nothing to fear with the label.
“Bob, I don’t see much of you our way in Queensland (Toowoomba), but I always read and like to listen to what
you have to say and how you say it. I can’t bear to listen to a politician's practised, evasive, fabricated and pass-thebuckishness,” Azara D’dogue said.
“The wildcard. The teller of truth. They attack the person, when they have no other
ammunition,” Trevor Warner wrote on Facebook.
Alex Godwin is a Sydney artist who has worked on shows including Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell. The cards can be purchased at