[18][19] It was founded by Bob Katter, an independent and former Nationals MP for the seat of Kennedy, with a registration application lodged to the Australian Electoral Commission in 2011.

[24] Under Queensland electoral law the party appears on the state election ballots only under its abbreviated name.

In August 2017, during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, Katter announced that he could not guarantee confidence and supply if the government lost its majority.

[57][58] On 30 October 2011, McLindon was joined by Shane Knuth, the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) member for Dalrymple.

He was also displeased with a number of tactics adopted by the LNP's organisational wing, such as grilling potential candidates and maintaining files about Labor MPs containing compromising information.

Robbie Katter won Mount Isa—which is virtually coextensive with the western portion of his father's federal seat—while Knuth retained Dalrymple.

Katter claimed that the Electoral Commission's decision not to print his name on the ballot cost the party 8.5% of the vote.

Due to the election's close-run result (44 Labor to 42 LNP with either needing 45), KAP was potentially in a situation to choose the government, and met with both parties and published a list of 28 demands.

[64] Katter's Australian Party maintained their parliamentary representation but further increased their share of first preference votes to 2.52% at the 2020 Queensland state election.

Katter's Australian Party maintained their parliamentary representation and further increased their share of first preference votes at the 2024 Queensland state election.

The Tasmanian Branch, led by Glenorchy Alderman Jenny Branch-Allen, claimed to have received many expressions of interest by potential candidates for the 2013 federal election.

[69][70] In 2018, the party contested the by-election in the New South Wales seat of Wentworth, which was triggered by the resignation of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

For the 2020-21 financial year, the largest disclosed donors to the party were: Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (Queensland) Inc ($130,000 split across two donations), Shooters Union Qld Pty Ltd ($100,000), Firearm Dealers Association - Qld Inc ($100,000), and Charters Towers Toyota ($20,000).