Parliament pantomime as Abbott, Pyne run like naughty boys
Since MP Craig Thomson was ousted from the Labor caucus, he has proven a loyal outcast, always voting with the government despite their having rejected him.
Like a dumped boyfriend who keeps hanging around.
This has given the opposition a stick to poke the government with. Why is the government accepting his "tainted" vote?
Of course, the government is accepting it because it must, for its own survival.
But this morning's parliamentary farce shows that it is actually logistically quite difficult to reject a vote.
You can't physically oust someone from sitting on "your" side for the vote – so one of your number has to fall on his sword and sit out the vote so as to cancel the vote of the tainted guy.
This means leaving the chamber, and fast: after five minutes of bell ringing, the doors of the Parliament are locked, so that late-comers can't get in.
Thomson waited until the last minute to move, but the opposition noticed what he was doing.
And so, this morning, we had the unedifying spectacle of Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, and the manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, trying to bolt from the house like a pair of pantomime villains, so as to negate Thomson's vote.
Pyne moved like a gazelle, dashing for the doors like a hunted beast.
Abbott was in close pursuit, but got nabbed as Burke, at her school ma'amish best, whipped her head around to apprehend the naughty boys.
Pyne made it out, Abbott did not. ("You go on without me! Don't worry about me, leave me!")
It was a most athletic morning - theatrics staged to show that the opposition is so determined not to accept Thomson's vote, it will literally jump and dash from his taintedness.
It was either an extraordinary tactical display, or just another example of Parliament disappearing up its own procedural fundament.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/parliament-pantomime-as-abbott-pyne...
Forum
Pages: 1 
