It may be obvious to many – but, alas, it’s not always evident to all…
Responding to questions with an explosion of out-of-control anger can be highly counterproductive.
And a person who is losing control of their temper is not typically giving great answers.
If you – or any members or your team – cannot see this truth, it’s worth watching what happened when a longstanding Australian politician went feral at an outdoor press conference.
The politician is Bob Katter Junior – requiring the “Junior” because his father, Bob Katter Senior, was an Australian MP back in the days when I was reporting on the Federal Parliament in Canberra for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
In a tribute to a character in Alice In Wonderland, Bob Katter Junior has affectionately become known as “The Mad Katter”.
You’ll soon see why!
Mr Katter has developed the knack of grabbing media attention.
But as really impressive communicators know, just getting attention is not enough.
When you’re in the spotlight, you need to be deeply aware of the impact your behaviour has on your audience.
Bob Katter Junior is 80 years old.
So perhaps – in the spirit of exceptional old dogs learning new tricks – it’s time he understood the communication benefits of staying under emotional control when in the limelight.
Known as the “Father Of The House” of Australia’s Federal Parliament, Mr Katter is currently the longest-serving MP in Canberra.
He has represented his constituents for 32 years so far.
Like the overwhelming majority of Australians, Bob Katter’s forebears came to the country from elsewhere.
His grandfather was from Lebanon and migrated to Australia in 1898.
And as you will see in the following video – for some unfathomable reason in a land of so many descendants of immigrants – Bob Katter is unusually sensitive about this.
Watch what took place when Mr Katter let himself off the leash at an outdoor media event…
Like his dad, Bob Katter is an MP from Queensland in Australia’s tropical north.
Political analysts sometimes make a comparison between narrow conservative outlooks in Australia’s “Deep North” and the U.S.A.’s “Deep South”.
Having spent time amidst the sunshine and conservative views of both, I can see what they mean.
Bob Katter has his own political party – modestly called “Katter’s Australian Party”.
Mr Katter is a maverick radical right-winger.
He was a law student in 1964 when a pop group called The Beatles came on a tour of Australia.
Bob Katter and colleagues threw eggs (rotten ones, according to some accounts) at the Fab Four when they arrived at the airport in Brisbane – the state capital of Queensland.
Of course, Bob Katter thought he had a solid reason for doing such an outrageous thing.
He claimed it was “an intellectual reaction against Beatlemania”.
Alas, from a legal and a media perspective, this was not a great answer in 1964 – and it doesn’t sound any better today.
Bob Katter didn’t stick to convention back then, and he doesn’t do so now.
He seems to have never learned the art of giving great answers to tough questions – or keeping his fierce temper under control.
Mr Katter’s latest outburst has even earned him a public condemnation from Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who – as his surname suggests – comes from an Italian background of which he’s perfectly relaxed.
In the Italian language, “Albanese” means Albanian – which further underlines the prime minister’s Mediterranean heritage.
If you can stand viewing the Bob Katter outburst again, you can watch here what Mr Albanese said to Mr Katter in his public rebuke…
GIVING GREAT ANSWERS TO TOUGH QUESTIONS
The good news is that learning to give great answers to tough questions – and keeping fully in control while you do so – is a learnable skill….whether you’re 18 or 80.
Learning the methodology to give great answers – and then practising how to apply it to a range of situations – is what happens in my communication-boosting sessions on the topic.
When you’ve planned, prepared and practised giving great answers within the session, participants find it so much easier to keep cool under pressure when doing it for real.
Having your answers recorded on video, played back and critiqued during the sessions makes a huge positive difference to your future responses.
Sessions of “Great Answers To Tough Questions” can be run one-to-one and in small groups.
Check out the details at:
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/give-great-answers-to-tough-questions/
And there is a keynote version for conferences which you can see – among other options – at:
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/speaking-at-your-event/
Meanwhile there’s some amazingly good news for those needing to improve their communication skills in the southern hemisphere!
Michael Dodd Communications will be helping people give great answers to tough questions in Australia in March 2026.
I’ve been invited to make a presentation at the Global Speakers Federation conference for professional speakers being held between 13 and 16 March.
Amazingly, the conference is being held in Cairns in North Queensland – in the area represented by none other than Bob Katter MP.
This follows the rigorous selection process by conference organisers – which included viewing applicants’ 60-second videos.
These needed to explain how the session will appeal to professional speakers coming to Cairns from around the world.
You can pack a lot into 60 seconds – as my sessions on this topic show.
Details of “Your Message In 60 Seconds” are at:
https://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/get-your-message-across-in-60-seconds/
The Michael Dodd Communications 60-second video to promote the “Great Answers” keynote at the Cairns global speakers summit was recorded on the banks of The Thames – opposite the British Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
As the video had to appeal to professional speakers gathering in Cairns, be warned that it features a well-known Queensland tropical fruit.
This is in honour of the colloquial Australian expression about getting “the rough end of the pineapple”.
The saying sums up how many people feel when they’re on the receiving end of blowtorch-on-the-belly questions.
You can watch the 60-second Dodd video here…
After the Cairns conference, I’ll be travelling to various parts of Australia where – when booked in advance – I’ll be running sessions on “Give Great Answers To Tough Questions” for audiences, companies and individuals who need it.
If you need a session – in Australia in March 2026 – to boost the verbal performances of you and your team, please send your inquiry to discuss the potential time and place details to: michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com
For everyone travelling within Australia, please remember that there’s one thing worse in Queensland than getting the rough end of the pineapple.
And that’s getting caught by the rough end of a Queensland crocodile.
One person who is obsessively aware of this is Bob Katter MP.
Readers of this column may remember that Mr Katter provided one of his other infamous not-so-great answers which referenced Queensland crocodiles.
It followed a media event in 2017 at a time when Australia was debating the idea of same-sex marriage.
Characteristically, the Bob Katter answer was attention-grabbing – but it did not deal much with the question about same-sex marriage.
Watch it here and see if you can spot Mr Katter’s fixation with North Queensland crocodile attacks…
I have been blessed by having made a number of trips to Cairns – including my first one as a primary school pupil that involved an excursion starting with the ever-hotter 3-day train trip up the Australian east coast from Sydney to get there.
I’ve never so far been bitten by a North Queensland crocodile.
And I expect I won’t be bitten (providing I’m careful) when I go there again In March 2026!
Keep smiling – but never smile at a crocodile!!!