CANBERRA : If you are a masochist ,
like me, and have been watching
Senate debates on TV of late , you
soon understood why
Paul Keating referred to
the Upper House as
“unrepresentative swill ”the way the government side stuck to the repetitious message ad nauseam . Talk
about deja vous ... over and
over...again and again
...Coalition slogan after
slogan . Senate President John
Hogg , like a recording : Order! Order ! Order ! Order !
Order !.. Hogtied Hogg , time
and time again, stated he cannot force
a minister to answer the
question and supplementaries . If
that be the case , what is the use of asking a question
and what is
the use of the Senate?
Ditto in the House of Reps.
In a much needed piece of slight relief , the head of a visiting Polish (pork?) sausage eating political delegation was allowed to share the throne next to Hogg . Before that elevation , the Poles probably thought the Senate resembled one of those rowdy strike meetings outside the Gdansk Shipyard which saw Lech Walesa rise to international fame, become the Polish PM and receive a Nobel award. Looking somewhat apprehensive at times, the Polish visitor soon stepped down and departed the chamber with the rest of the bemused party. It would have been interesting to learn what they thought about proceedings.
After continually shouting order and repeating again and again that he cannot force a minister to answer a question, the stressed President normally steps down for his deputy so that he can take a Bex and a well deserved rest on a pig- leather couch to watch Bill Murray in The Ghost Busters.
In a much needed piece of slight relief , the head of a visiting Polish (pork?) sausage eating political delegation was allowed to share the throne next to Hogg . Before that elevation , the Poles probably thought the Senate resembled one of those rowdy strike meetings outside the Gdansk Shipyard which saw Lech Walesa rise to international fame, become the Polish PM and receive a Nobel award. Looking somewhat apprehensive at times, the Polish visitor soon stepped down and departed the chamber with the rest of the bemused party. It would have been interesting to learn what they thought about proceedings.
After continually shouting order and repeating again and again that he cannot force a minister to answer a question, the stressed President normally steps down for his deputy so that he can take a Bex and a well deserved rest on a pig- leather couch to watch Bill Murray in The Ghost Busters.
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The soon to be sworn in (and at ) new Senators -one holding a struggling Groundhog-who will have the balance of power in Canberra.
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