Parliament House or animal house?The conduct of Federal Parliament recently has descended from chaos into outright farce, says Christian Kerr. Both sides know they’re behaving badly, but will either fall back into line?
Question time
Crikey Says: Abbott’s Question Time antics
Yesterday Tony Abbott was booted from Question Time. Today he’s threatened that the Opposition might boycott it. His dummy-spit is particularly egregious as a senior member and, better yet, Leader of the House.
Play Crikey’s Question Time Bingo
You usually have to pay for fun this good. Download First Dog’s Bingo cards, put on a cuppa and join the Crikey team from 2pm.
Twitter: giving a voice to the biggest mouths in town
Enjoy the unfiltered tweets of pollies Joe Hockey, Kevin Rudd et al while you can. Pretty soon, press secretaries will be wrenching their Blackberrys from their hands, says Annabel Crabb.
Opposition makes public the losers
The Opposition politicians are lazy and don’t provide a clear political alternative. Instead their main aim is oppose everything: even things that will come back to bite them later, writes Alister Drysdale.
Only one thing worse than losing Opposition leadership: keeping it
Malcolm Turnbull asked a total of seven questions during four Question Times and looked bored and distracted throughout the week.
Craig Emerson wins QT Idol
Question Time has long been a warped type of talent show and the current stand out performer is Minister for Small Business, Craig Emerson, writes Annabel Crabb.
Question Time Bingo
Get your nanna on and play the craze sweeping the nation. Join the Crikey team from 2pm today.
Ruddinator 2: Judgment Day
Poor judgment. Bad judgment. Wrong judgment. Misjudgment. Flawed judgment. The word ‘judgment’ was uttered 24 times in Question Time yesterday.
Two schools and a clear felling: Question Time fails to inspire
Three Question Times so far this week, and a grand total of eight questions from the Opposition about actual economic matters. Bernard Keane is unimpressed.
Carry On Question Time: Opposition at a loss in the House
In a week when the Government should have been under pressure, given its inability to get key legislation through the Senate, Question Time has been like shooting fish in a barrel, writes Bernard Keane.
Turnbull walks the path of Opposition Leaders past
One of the toughest walks in Parliament House is from the Opposition Leader’s office out to the “Opposition Leader’s Courtyard”, writes Bernard Keane.
Tragedy brings the best out of Parliament
It’s a shame such a vast tragedy was required to bring out the best in our parliamentarians, but it did, writes Bernard Keane.
“You went too far Malcolm.” Turnbull and the Oz c-ck it up
Turnbull’s Parliamentary skills are still a work in progress, and that his frontbench lacks either the experience or forthrightness to rein him in, writes Bernard Keane.
Question Time: You’re an idiot, you are, no you are
Question Time doesn’t get more childish than yesterday, reports Bernard Keane.
Gillard makes Question Time her own; Nelson regains ground
The Opposition won’t be too unhappy with their performance in Parliament this week, reports Bernard Keane.
Crikey Says: Crikey Says
A lot of Australians said sorry today. Some did not. One most notable Australian — the man who late last year said that an apology to Aboriginal Australians would “only reinforce a culture of victimhood and take us backwards” — drew attention to himself by staying out of sight.
Costello: did he or didn’t he?
Incompetent parliamentary tactics from the ALP and Club Canberra’s code of omerta are obscuring a fundamental question: did the Treasurer actually say of the Prime Minister “He can’t win; I can. We can, but he can’t”?
