Na na na na, hey hey, goodbye

Question time is never quite tongue in cheek: Joel Fitzgibbon. Picture: Gary Ramage

Joel Fitzgibbon has certainly developed the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.

“The Labor brand is in trouble,” the backbencher bellowed during his Monday morning media bonanza. “And if we’re not careful, it’ll go the way of the Kodak brand.”

No doubt a reference to the fable of Kodak who, like Icarus, flew too close to the darkroom sun. The not-so-candid phrase had an aspect so nice that Fitz repeated it thrice – to the ABC, Sky News and Sunrise.

As the troublemaker made his way through the press gallery on his Upper Hunter apology tour, Fitz offered a Kodak moment of his own for fellow photography fans. But to whom was the tongue-outside-cheek gesture ­directed?

Here’s a hint Fitz offered earlier: “I won't stick around if the Labor Party doesn’t wake up to ­itself.”

The usual suspects couldn’t resist getting involved. “Would be good if (Fitzgibbon) played a constructive role instead of a destructive role in the lead-up to the next election,” former Labor senator Doug Cameron tweeted from Tasmania. “Telling (the ABC’s Fran Kelly) he will walk away as local member if he thinks Labor cannot win! Egotistical, divisive claptrap is a liability for Labor and workers!”

Fitz replied: “Like you already did, Doug.” Snap!

A by-election can also bring foes together. Take Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack and former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce, who briefly basked together in the “spectacular win on the weekend” via a Dorothy Dixer.

After warming up with coal chat, MickMack prepared his big question time finale: “Indeed, and I am asked what are the ­alternatives?”

Josh Frydenberg in question time on Monday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Only for Speaker Tony Smith to rudely interrupt. “I will say to the Deputy Prime Minister,” Smith said, “you might have expected to be asked that, but you actually weren’t.” Whoops!

An accidental or intentional misstep by his predecessor?

Or perhaps a subtle dig at MickMack’s ill-fated Upper ­Hunter victory lap. After issuing a midday media alert on Sunday, his plane was delayed and he missed it by two hours. MickMack fumbled again when he accidentally labelled Speaker Smith a “lefty” before concluding, “to use the member for Hunter’s own words – you lot need to wake up to yourselves.”

The Nats weren’t done with Fitz’s threats to leave the labour in the Labor Party. Resources Minister Keith Pitt brought a Nationals membership form and pen for his turn at the dispatch box.

Anthony Albanese in question time on Monday. Picture: Gary Ramage

“Stand up, line up, join up,” Pitt advised, before taking a colourful turn. “It would be a shame to see the member for Hunter leave,” he mourned about Labor’s coal pivot. “I say to the member for Hunter there’s some options here for you … (put your) head in the wardrobe and wade through the suits, get to the skivvy pile at the back, it doesn’t matter what colour it is, red, green, blue or yellow. I hear the Wiggles are recruiting, I can see the catchline now – ‘Wake up Albo, wake up’.”

As Snoop Dogg famously said: “Crop it like it’s hot.”