Maverick federal MP Bob Katter threatened to punch a journalist after his heritage was questioned ahead of so-called pro-Australia marches planned across the country.

Katter, 80, confronted a TV reporter and thrust a fist in his face when asked about his family’s Lebanese history in fiery scenes in Brisbane on Thursday.

The man known as parliament’s Father of the House had been expressing his support for Sunday’s controversial anti-migration March for Australia rallies at a press conference when he suddenly became heated.

Katter became irate when asked about his Lebanese heritage by Greek Australian Nine Network journalist Josh Bavas.

His grandfather Carl Robert Katter immigrated from Lebanon to Australia in 1898.

“Don’t say that, because that irritates me, and I punch blokes in the mouth for saying that,” Katter yelled, cutting off the reporter’s question.

“I am Australian. My family have been here since the dawn of time.”

Katter then approached Bavas with a raised fist when the reporter tried to ask what he thought about migrants who arrived in Australia with “good values”.

“You’re a racist,” the veteran MP said, holding his fist close to the reporter’s face.

“You cannot say what you just said without being identified as a racist.

“Gentlemen, ladies, this man is a racist. Don’t listen to him.”

Bavas has since released a statement shared by Nine News Queensland on social media.

“In an extraordinary press conference where a federal parliamentarian was talking about taking names on lists and deportation of residents, I was trying to get a question about the value migration Australian families, including the Katters and my own family, bring to this nation through shared values,” he said.

“In my near 20 years in journalism, I’ve never experienced that kind of reaction from an elected representative.”

The MP for the Queensland seat of Kennedy had earlier claimed at the Katter’s Australian Party press conference that he would be “front and centre” at the rally in Brisbane on Sunday.

The rallies have sparked safety fears for multi-cultural communities amid fears they may be targeted.

The rally in Brisbane will be held on the final weekend of the state’s Multicultural Month.

Katter claimed migrants who mostly move to Melbourne and Sydney were not embracing Australian culture.

“I don’t care whether you’re born here or not, if you have anti-Australian sentiments then get the hell out of my country,” he said.

March for Australia anti-migration rallies are set to be held across the country, seeking to “stand for the people, culture, and nation that built Australia.”

Organisers have been linked with white nationalist ideas but they have distanced themselves from far right groups.

Katter was flanked by his party’s fellow MPs, including his son, in Brisbane on Thursday.

State MP Robbie Katter hoped attendees on Sunday would focus on Australian values following the successful pro-Palestinian rallies.

“There was certainly a large anti-Australian sentiment of people (at pro-Palestine rallies) that don’t wish to co-exist with the values that we’re talking about here today and that we see essential to Australian spirit,” he said.

Queensland opposition leader Steven Miles has denounced the pro-Australia rallies, seeking security assurances for multicultural communities from the premier.

“There is no place for this form of discrimination in Queensland,” the Labor leader said in a letter to David Crisafulli.

“It is the responsibility of the government to protect and support vulnerable multicultural communities.”

Crisafulli on Wednesday backed the right of people to protest but implored attendees against inciting violence.

“People have got to do things respectfully,” he said.

“You can be proud of who you are and where you come from … but you don’t do it in defiance and hatred of someone else, and that’s when it goes too far.”

Bob Katter is federal parliament’s longest-serving MP, after first winning his seat in 1993, giving him the title Father of the House.

With AAP