Albanese’s Tourette’s slur capped a question time too dire for Liz Truss

Former British prime minister Liz Truss did not last long in office. Her stamina for watching question time in Canberra was even shorter. She left within half an hour from her perch on a chair in the corner of the House of Representatives.

It was just as well.

Former UK prime minister Liz Truss did not last long in question time.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The spectacle of jeering, sledging and shouting in question time is old hat, but Tuesday’s session was particularly bitter. Dated and offensive playground slurs came from the prime minister’s mouth.

The afternoon was supposed to begin with a solemn, bipartisan moment as everyone in parliament joined to condemn Hamas’ slaughter of 1200 people in Israel and capture of another 200 on October 7 last year. But it instead ignited after the Coalition refused to endorse Labor’s motion. It only got more rancorous from there.

The Greens were racist and antisemitic, the Coalition claimed. Labor’s benches erupted in unedifying anger when the Greens’ Max Chandler-Mather rose to ask a question about housing affordability in typically overblown style.

And after shadow treasurer Angus Taylor asked Anthony Albanese to rule out tax changes that would hit the family home, which enjoys a capital gains tax exemption, the prime minister’s patience grew razor-thin. Coalition interjections, including incessant barbs from Dutton, eroded it entirely as he tried to brush off the question. Then the prime minister snapped.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during question time.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“This nonsense that they carry on with ... Have you got Tourette’s or something?” Albanese demanded of Taylor and Dutton, using the neurodevelopmental disorder as an insult. “You know, you just sit there, babble, babble, babble,” he said.

This was a prime minister who had promised to do politics differently. “It starts with giving people respect,” he once said.

Within seconds, Albanese realised he’d gone too far. “I withdraw. I withdraw. I withdraw and apologise,” Albanese said.

Truss, who lasted just 44 days as PM, was long gone by then. She’d stayed less than half an hour. It was an exit far more tactical than her 2022 resignation from the top job in British politics after her mini-budget caused an economic crisis.

But the Spanish ambassador was in the room along with a delegation of US congressional staffers. So too was a group of people who had suffered from gambling addictions urging the government to ban the ads that could trigger them to relapse. They cannot have been thrilled at the display.

Question time is intended to be robust, even theatrical. Some of Paul Keating’s most vicious insults are still celebrated because they were delivered with timing and wit. None of that was evident here.

Within minutes of question time opening, speaker Milton Dick was imploring the nation’s leaders in the tone of a tired teacher to “take the temperature down”.

“We’re going to listen one another and show each other respect,” Dick said.

As if.

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