Schwarten's insults pack mighty punch
THEY are affectionately known as "Schwartenisms", the rapid-fire witicisms hurled across the Parliament floor by Robert Schwarten.
CM iPad section Front Page
Don't miss out on the headlines from CM iPad section Front Page. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THEY are affectionately known as "Schwartenisms", the rapid-fire witicisms hurled across the Parliament floor by Robert Schwarten.
"They have to fill in the form, send it away with the money and then sit there as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs waiting for it to come back," he roared in indignation against licensing regulations for builders back in 2002.
His barbed banter coloured years of Parliamentary speeches and left no political foe untouched.
"This Government is as free of the truth as a snake is of hips, and everyone in this state now knows it," he declared while in Opposition back in 1996.
And a year later: "Let us look at what we have: a Minister who could not teach a pig to be dirty and a director-general who could not lead a choko vine over a fence."
In 2001 he railed against John Howard and the impact of the GST on the building industry.
"Trying to get through to him and the Democrats is like trying to teach a giraffe to climb a tree," he crowed.
Barnaby Joyce was also in Mr Schwarten's sights for supporting the full sale of Telstra.
"Bulldog Barnaby went down to Canberra and came back as Senator Slush Puppy," Mr Schwarten said.