Just how much lower can the upper house go?

These are serious times, there are even dangerous times in many ways. These are times in which the average Australian family is hurting. In which the federal government is lurching from one legislative failure to the next and merrily driving us off a cliff and into the abyss of energy insecurity.

I would like to have a conversation about the state of the Australian Senate. Not something I feel like doing every day but I’m in a mood.

You know the Senate, don’t you? The chamber with red seats, not green; the “upstairs” joint that was designed as a house of legislative review. Where fine minds and servant hearts would (in theory) pore over proposed legislation to ensure it was sound, fit for purpose and ultimately for the greater good of this wonderful country we get to call home.

The same Australian Senate that seemingly has descended into a madhouse of chaos, petulance, tantrums, horse-trading and personal agendas. A house where, on Wednesday, it finally found the stones to suspend rogue ex-Australian Greens senator Lidia Thorpe. My only question is what took so long?

Thorpe, whose actions in and outside parliament scream “look at me”, gave the Senate – and by extension every single one of us – the middle finger as she flounced out of the chamber, having finally been sent packing for her multiple behavioural sins. Sadly, it’s not for good. If only.

It’s a good time to remind everyone that we, the taxpaying chumps of this good nation, pay Thorpe an annual salary of $233,660, plus an extra $25 odd thousand for chairing a committee of some description. Every single part of the chaotic nonsense she has served up is on our time, and our dime. From the idiotic, ranting turn in front of King Charles to her consistent carry on within the chamber itself.

I think it’s very fair to ask ourselves what we get in return. Polite and G-rated answers only …

I could stop with Senator Thorpe (I’d actually prefer that she stop being Senator Thorpe) but it wasn’t just her middle-finger-flipping, tantrum-throwing silliness that dominated Wednesday’s sitting day.

Remember Senator Fatima Payman? She fancies herself a contender. She joined the fray, serving up a shouty, angry tirade at One Nation’s Pauline Hanson who along with the ALP (remember them? The ones who actually gifted Payman with a winnable seat on their WA Senate ticket) is seeking to question Payman’s eligibility to sit in parliament because of her dual Australian/Afghan citizenship.

Last night, I stood in the Senate to address the serious issues that led to Senator Thorpe’s suspension.

I’ve endured constant attempted intimidation and abuse from Senator Thorpe, including being called a “white colonialist” and told to “go back where you came from.”

Her… pic.twitter.com/lfWMMLVAQ2

— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) November 28, 2024

It was quite the scene on a chaotic day. In some ways, reminiscent of some of my own finer moments during the late 1970s. After all, nobody embodies petulance with the theatre, flair and commitment of an Italian child. I guess it’s what happens when you preselect children and put them in the same house as the grown-ups.

Hanson is now reportedly threatening to sue Lidia Thorpe and Channel 9 over a separate interview, and all the while you and I and every other person I know is just trying to get on with it.

These are serious times, even dangerous times in many ways. These are times in which the average Australian family is hurting. In which the federal government is lurching from one legislative failure to the next and merrily driving us off a cliff and into the abyss of energy insecurity.

Yeah, but it’s not their fault, you say. Think again. While she’s now an independent, it was the vile, Australia-hating Greens that delivered us Thorpe. And it was the ALP who gave us Fatima Payman. Buyer’s regret anyone?

I’ve been sort of patient. I’ve been intermittently frustrated. Sometimes, I’ve been disengaged for my sanity’s sake. But after watching the carry on of Wednesday and Thursday, I feel bloody short-changed.

As one of the taxpaying chumps who pay their tax on time, who dot their “I”s and cross their “T”s. As a business owner in the real economy who understands what it is to run a P&L, ­deliver a service and be accountable for what she says she’ll do.

Payman and Thorpe? Spare me. As for Hanson, at least having run a small business she has some idea of how the real world operates.

Forget performance reviews, I’m for some involuntary redundancies. Shame we have to wait for an election for the chance to do it.