June 20, 2023
KATTER’S Australian Party MP Bob Katter has slammed the “ridiculous idea” of soldiers wearing body cams when in combat.
The Chief of the Defence Force has issued direction for certain army personnel to be forced to wear body cameras during particular missions, a move Mr Katter labelled would “sacrifice the safety of soldiers to appease the wokes.”[1]
“Warfare is an atrocity by definition,” Mr Katter said.
“I was trained for combat, I note I never saw combat. But the training was to kill without thinking, because if they stop and think, we'd all be dead,” Mr Katter said.
“If you think if you can go into warfare and never make a mistake, then you believe in the tooth fairy. The tension, trauma, and terror of battle.
“Cameras would create absolute critical hesitation. I think it would completely emasculate our soldiers. I think the net result of that - it will unnecessarily decimate the number of Australian soldiers in defence.”
Mr Katter said the introduction of “moral quandaries” into life-or-death situations raised questions about the chief of the defence’s motivation.
“His motivation is to please the wokes - sacrificing the safety of his soldiers. Assessing morality ‘frame-by-frame’ from an armchair provides no context to decisions made in the heat of battle.
“Those doing so ought to hang their heads in shame and certainly not attend ANZAC Day services and hypocritically pay tribute to the men and women who gave their lives for the country.
“For arguments suggesting footage would also be used to train soldiers – we hold concerns this ‘training’ would pigeonhole our men and women into thinking and acting a certain way during battle; acting in a manner that might appease their chiefs, but also cost lives and battles.
“If you use cameras in war and you want to give them moral quandaries - a reason to stop and have moral theological discussions - then just don't go to war, just let your country be taken over and abated.
“You cannot be expected, in the heat of battle to be rethinking every decision. And so you shouldn’t be judged on those decisions either.”
Mr Katter said this was another example of the “soft, feel-good brigade” earning morality points while sacrificing Australian values and Australians, following the Ben Roberts Smith defamation decision.
“The modern woke generation consider it a sport to pick on anyone who represents nationalism, a proud Australia. We should revere those who generate money, protect our country and produce wealth for us,” Mr Katter said in response to the Roberts Smith decision.
“For the 'double-degree done nothings' they are their singular targets - they hate all the traditional values that Australians have revered for hundreds, I would argue thousands of years.
“We need to look at the people that made this decision and give them the same scrutiny; decisions made on the basis of prejudices from the 'fully modern class’ with their double degrees and cushy jobs. They spit upon the values of we Australians.”