Member for silly stunts

From stately sentiments to bird-brained burlesque | Matt Price | The Australian

Matt Price does not think highly of a silly stunt by Labor MPs in Parliament yesterday:

Yesterday, though, the mischief turned downright moronic. When Costello rose during question time, a bright-orange fluffy toy bird magically appeared on the desk of Labor MP Bernie Ripoll. You'll never ever be able to guess what it was. Starts with C? Ends with "icken"?

While most Labor MPs thought it all brilliantly funny, several cringed in undisguised embarrassment. Only the day before, Ripoll was recorded in Hansard accusing Alexander Downer of being an "evil little shit" so I guess we're lucky he didn't turn up waving a giant fluffy brown turd.

Speaker David Hawker was furious, and in the ensuing mayhem Ripoll and frontbench colleague Gavan O'Connor were both ejected. O'Connor feigned kissing the toy, then performed a lame chicken jig exiting the chamber. Hilarious, non?

While we are on this topic, some readers would have noticed the large billboards around town showing Kim Beazley literally tearing in half a mock up "Workplace Relations Act". ("Kim Beazley will repeal the unfair workplace relations law" goes the caption, or words to that effect.) It looks so (for want of a better word) "stagey" that I find it rather silly. I can't be the only one who thinks this.

I also think I may never have gotten around to complaining about the annoying way they were obviously told that whenever they mention the Workplace Relations Act, they all must use the identical phrase (what was it - "this extreme Workplace Relations law" ?)

Made them all sound like PR automatons rather than people who could come up with their own rhetoric.

Low marks for whoever is doing their PR advice, I reckon.