Bungee jumps, murder videos and the other ridiculous stunts from Australian political history
PAULINE Hanson’s burqa moment is just the latest in a long list of ill-advised stunts Australian MPs have pulled over the years. Here are the worst of the worst.
PAULINE Hanson’s decision to wear a burqa into the Senate may be a high water mark in absurd Australian political stunts — but then again, absurd stunts are one of the defining features of Australian politics.
HANSON: One Nation leader fires back at critics after burqa stunt
BRANDIS: Emotional Hanson smackdown prompts a standing ovation
For this list we’ve discounted the ridiculous moments pollies sometimes find themselves in that they didn’t plan for — such as Peter Costello’s uber-awkward rendition of the Macarena with Kerri-Anne Kennerley on The Midday Show. We’ve also discounted the stunts that were not too high on the silly-meter, such as Treasurer Scott Morrison’s brandishing of a lump of coal in the House of Representatives earlier this year.
But here are the worst of the worst:
THAT TIME WHEN PAULINE HANSON MADE A ‘MURDER VIDEO’
“FELLOW Australians, if you are seeing me now it means I have been murdered.”
So began the most infamous 12-minute video in Australian political history.
Pauline Hanson recorded the clip in 1997 after she had received death threats. It was meant to be screened to supporters in the event of her assassination, with the One Nation leader imploring her followers: “Do not let my passing distract you for even a moment”.
But the clip was leaked soon after, leading to widespread ridicule and providing sound bite fodder for Hanson’s long-time nemesis, the performer Pauline Pantsdown.
In a 2016 Facebook Live stream, Hanson said she “shouldn’t have listened” to her former adviser David Oldfield, who apparently had suggested the idea.
“I think there was something going on behind the scenes there that I was unaware of,” Hanson said.
THAT TIME WHEN ANDREW BARTLETT BUNGEE JUMPED TO OBLIVION
FIGHTING for airtime in the bitter lead-up to the 2004 Federal Election, Australian Democrats leader Andrew Bartlett took the plunge — literally — by bungee jumping on the Gold Coast.
The intention may have been to draw attention to the party’s policy on public liability insurance premiums, but the stunt was labelled “extraordinary” and “seriously weird”.
The Democrats lost three Senate seats in the election, and recorded their lowest vote to date. Bartlett did not contest the party leadership after the election.
THAT TIME BILL HEFFERNAN SMUGGLED A PIPE BOMB INTO PARLIAMENT
LIBERAL firebrand Bill Heffernan was known for putting the cat among the pigeons, and he did just that in May 2014 when he smuggled a pipe bomb into Parliament House.
The Senator was grilling senior officials from the AFP during a Budget estimates hearing when he suddenly produced the crude bomb, which he said was similar to the improvised devices which he used as a young farm boy to blow tree stumps “to buggery”.
Heffernan said he smuggled the item into Parliament House to prove that the building was not secure.
THAT TIME KEVIN RUDD LOOKED A LITTLE TWO-DIMENSIONAL
ON February 23, 2008, Nationals MP Luke Hartsuyker held up a cardboard cut-out of Kevin Rudd in the House of Representatives in protest over the then-Prime Minister’s absence.
Deputy Speaker Anna Burke asked for the cardboard likeness to be removed as MPs shouted “We want the Prime Minister here!”
“It’s not good enough that Mr Rudd and his ministers are not here five days a week when they demand other members of parliament to be here five days a week — we don’t want to have cardboard Kevin here, we want the real Kevin Rudd to be here,” said MP Joe Hockey.
THAT TIME DAVID LEYONHJELM WENT A-CAROLLING
IN November 2015, NSW Senator David Leyonhjelm warmed up his vocal cords and went a-carolling … in the Senate chamber.
The lone Liberal Democrat senator warned other MPs that he was “not an undiscovered Pavarotti” before embarking on a tax-themed rendition of the classic carol The 12 Days of Christmas, renamed The Five Bills of Christmas.
“In the first bill of Christmas, my treasurer sent to me, a tax on the elderly,” he sang. “In the second bill of Christmas, my treasurer sent to me, slower deductions and a tax on the elderly ...” And so it went, until the final verse. “In the fifth bill of Christmas, my treasurer sent to me more FBT (fringe benefit tax). More CGT (capital gains tax), seafarer tax, slower deductions and tax on the elderly.”
Thanks Senator. Next!
THAT TIME UNICORNS CAME TO PARLIAMENT
IN February last year, Labor MPs Tim Watts and Pat Conroy brandished toy unicorns (presumably taken from their daughters’ collections, but who are we to judge?) during Question Time as Treasurer Scott Morrison took the floor.
The stunt was in reference to Morrison’s comments about Labor’s tax plans, in which he said: “They are selling a unicorn to the Australian people — higher taxes for higher spending.”
Morrison mentioned the mythical creature on a second occasion, saying: “I’m realistically optimistic, but at the same time the environment for the Budget is difficult, and I’m not going to be a Treasurer who tries to sell the public a unicorn on this thing.”
Both MPs were ejected from Question Time for the stunt, while Labor MP Andrew Leigh later joked that he applauded Morrison’s “strong anti-unicorn-trafficking stance”.
Originally published as Bungee jumps, murder videos and the other ridiculous stunts from Australian political history