See how decisively she acted on Mark Dreyfus, who behaved with revolting petulance when he called Bishop “Madam Speaker”. Oh sure, that’s technically her title, but you just know that he was being sarcastic. Like when people call Tony Abbott “Prime Minister”, or when they call Clive Palmer “Professor”. Snide. Nasty. About time we had a Speaker who’ll crack down on this nonsense. But probably Bishop’s greatest contribution to the art of Speakership was her anti-laughter ruling. The Labor Party, through what Bishop correctly identified as their “tactic of infectious laughter”, was deliberately and mischievously attempting to spread the idea that the government is funny. Naturally the Speaker deemed this intolerable. This government may be many things – or, it is entirely possible, it may not – but one thing it is NOT is funny. Spend an hour in the company of Christopher Pyne and tell me he’s funny. Listen to Eric Abetz’s voice for five minutes, and tell me he’s funny. Gently touch George Brandis face and tell me honestly if there’s anything funny about the experience. What’s more: government is not funny. Government is serious business. It affects us all. Take, for example, this statement from Pyne yesterday: “I am no sook”. Now is that funny? Yes, of course it is. It’s hilarious. It’s a sort of Mighty Boosh-like absurdism. But that’s exactly the point – when people start trying to be funny in the House, it needs to be nipped in the bud, lest it detract from the gravitas of parliament. By banning the Opposition from laughing, Bishop is simply moving to prevent people like Pyne from trying on their surrealist stand-up routines during serious debates. Sooner or later Pyne will realise he’s not getting any laughs and stop trying silly little gags like “I never complained” or “I am the Minister for Education”.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 04:06:22 +0000
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