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Consensus seems to be making a comeback in Canberra. When he addressed the federal Labor caucus in the government party room in Parliament House yesterday, Anthony Albanese spoke of entrenching reform over the next years. He spoke of the great honour of being elected to government, which should never be taken for granted. He undertook to reach out to business, the regions, to people of faith. He said he wanted to bring people together, not divide them with wedge politics. And he urged his MPs to look outward, not inward; to not waste a day in government; to display unity, discipline and a sense of purpose.
His address was uplifting. It was without hubris or sneer to the losing side. It held to his vow to change the way politics is done in this country. And it referenced three Labor heroes: Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd. It did not mention Paul Keating.
Was this perhaps a deliberate omission? Could it be that Paul Keating, whose rapier-sharp tongue became the stuff of legend, had actually started the country on this slippery slope of poor parliamentary conduct and political nastiness?
Keating's insults electrified Question Time when he was Treasurer then PM and still trigger laughter all these years later.
"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up," he said of rival John Hewson, who he defeated in 1993.
"The little desiccated coconut is under pressure and he is attacking anything he can get his hands on ... What we have got is a dead carcass, swinging in the breeze, but nobody will cut it down to replace him," he said of John Howard, who defeated Keating in 1996.
Keating was the king of snide. His insults raised a laugh at the time and elevated Question Time to theatre but did they improve political discourse? Probably not. Contesting ideas with reasoned debate rather than insults might not be as entertaining but it will be more intelligent.
If the new PM is serious about changing the way politics is done, he will need to ensure the way it's seen to be done changes too. Question Time too often devolves into Questionable Time, with interminable Dorothy Dixers, raucous interjections and puerile behaviour.
Remember the last exchange between Albanese and Dutton in Question Time? "Sit down, boofhead," the then opposition leader snarled at the now opposition leader, when things became heated.
As the PM himself has said, "We can do better than that."
HAVE YOUR SAY: What changes to the way politics is done in this country do you want to see? Does the behaviour in Question Time put you off politics? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Guide Dogs Victoria CEO Karen Hayes formally resigned after an investigation was launched into her appearance on Liberal Party election pamphlets endorsing unsuccessful Kooyong candidate and former Treasurer Josh Frydenberg during the federal election campaign.
- Barnaby Joyce has declared he's not going anywhere before the next election, and would accept a frontbench position from the man who deposed him. He also said the country needed to have a serious discussion about adopting nuclear energy.
- A visitor to the Louvre museum in Paris has thrown a piece of cake at the Mona Lisa, which is on display behind protective glass. The painting by Leonardo da Vinci was not damaged in its protective case during the attack. The 24-year-old from a Paris suburb was taken to a psychiatric hospital.
THEY SAID IT: ""Politics is show business for ugly people." - Paul Begala
YOU SAID IT: "Peter Dutton soft side? Nope, don't believe it. You only have to see what Morrison, Joyce and other Liberals have said on their losses in the election. They don't get it, and they are superciliously implying it's a blip and they'll win the next one!" - Deb
"This new phrase 'going forward' that just about every politician uses in every other sentence lately is driving me crazy. Let's hope we are going forward and not backwards or please not sideways." - Yvonne
"Peter Dutton will keep Labor in for the next few elections, softer side it may take a decade to find it. However the Nationals will be a great asset. Country Labor needs to start work." - Gary
"One wonders by Peter Dutton's new role as Leader of the Liberal Party, if the leopard has changed his spots. By all appearances and statements he has made attacking our new Prime Minister with only suppositions not fact, he hasn't. If his current attitude is to continue, the Libs will be in the wilderness for many years. Clearly, if Labor has won 76 seats and the combined LNP only 57, a clear 19 more seats, the Australian people have spoken and only an idiot could continue to say the LNP have a mandate on anything. Peter Dutton should be reflecting why people have turned against the LNP. He is possibly the most disliked Liberal in the Liberal Party." - Alan
"Of course, Littleproud did not elaborate on climate change policies, other than the net zero by 2050, or whatever. The only people who seem to have a grip are the Pacific Islanders, who have challenged China to assist with climate change. Now there is where the problem mostly lies for the entire world. When are these zealots going to understand that the atmosphere is mutually shared by the entire planet? Our 1 per cent doesn't just hover above Australia, it's ameliorated throughout, as is the dirty stuff China produces. Take our 1 per cent out and what have you achieved? Three fifths of five eighths of stuff all. Take China's share out and that's a different story. People need to get a grip on the scientific law of entropy. By the way, the sea levels aren't rising and Pacific island land masses aren't reducing. Oh, and the sky isn't falling either." - Stuart
"Yesterday [Monday] Peter Dutton looked almost angelic. Today [Tuesday] on TV he reverted to the usual Lib Party nastiness. What a shame. Makes me feel sad! I haven't heard Albo speak nastily. So glad I voted for the Labor Party and always will!" - Janet
"I watched Insiders, and saw Fiona with Mike Bowers Talking Pictures - in my opinion the best five minutes of TV in the whole 168 hours of our weeks. Fiona was wearing her Big Swinging Chicks T-shirt. Could i ask where she got it from? I want to buy one and maybe wear it on TV when I go on Hard Quiz? I'd love for Julie Bishop to sign it too." - Stuart