Strewth: Happy anniversary

Just two days shy of the first anniversary of same-sex marriage passing into law, parliament got bogged down on same-sex matters.

A good tenant ... Tanya Plibersek. Picture: Kym Smith

So it came to pass that just two days shy of the first anniversary of same-sex marriage passing into law, parliament got bogged down on same-sex matters. During yesterday’s to and fro on protecting gay students from discrimination, it was a toss-up as to who had the more jarring line. There was Scott Morrison: “My understanding of my faith and other religious teachings goes to people’s behaviour, not who they are.” And Tanya Plibersek: “I’m worried that this will go down the same route as the marriage equality debate. Someone will be suggesting a plebiscite next.” While you ponder that, we’ll just mention the minor amusement that the transcript of Plibersek’s press conference with Bill Shorten consistently misspells tenet as tenant. For example: “Any church, religious-based educational institution is allowed to teach the faith according to their tenants.” Which could work.

Protesting the protest

Quite a few of the anti-Adani protesters at Parliament House yesterday were school students, which gave a certain extra enigmatic sparkle to this tweet from Coalition senator James McGrath: “Just because these selfish gits don’t have jobs doesn’t give them a right to deny jobs for Queenslanders. Parliament is for all Australians.” This attracted some energetic responses, as he surely expected. Meanwhile, Senate president Scott Ryan declared the protesters had been banned from parliament for three months. As was swiftly pointed out, this means they will miss just two sitting weeks. Two.

Gathering no moss

The Prime Minister’s increasingly crammed schedule has seen him running late to various events, even missing the Diwali* celebration in the Great Hall earlier this week, an event where the sartorial standard knocks that of the Midwinter Ball into a small hat. (The sentiment of Diwali is lovely if optimistic: “From untruth lead us to truth. From darkness lead us to light.”) So there was a fear he wouldn’t make it to the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards yesterday. But make it he did, only for the division bell to ring just as he got up to speak. Cue a brisk exit to the House of Representatives. Happily, ScoMo made it back and delivered his speech. (*Here’s a Diwali snippet from Wikipedia that fills us with nostalgia for cracker night: “The use of fireworks also causes an increase in the number of burn injuries in India during Diwali. One particular firework called anar — fountain — has been found to be responsible for 65 per cent of such injuries, with adults being the typical victims.”)

Less is more

An exchange yesterday.

Journo: “Prime Minister, why did you save Craig Kelly?”

Morrison: “Good question.”

Yes, the Prime Minister went on to explain matters at length, but some would argue this way preserves the artistic truth.

Third time’s the charm

It has been a while since we heard disappointment expressed via the Brady Bunch method of thrice naming the offending person (“Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”). So it was nice of Chris Bowen to try it during his presser yesterday following a query from Sydney Morning Herald/Age economics correspondent Eryk Bagshaw.

Bagshaw: “Mr Bowen, you have described the figures today as disappointing. Wouldn’t you regard that in some ways as talking the economy down given the 3.4 per cent figure last quarter?”

Bowen: “Eryk, Eryk, Eryk, really?”

Another mode of disappointment expression yesterday came from Bob Katter, who was videoed in his office yoking the melody from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Bad Moon Rising to the lyric: “There’s a crossbench on the rise.” Which suggests that the nearly quarter of a billion dollars the government just threw at his neck of the woods for water projects has worn off.

Shock and oar

Chatting on Adelaide’s ABC 891 with host David Bevan, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham and Labor’s Amanda Rishworth, Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi had something to get off his chest. “Malcolm Turnbull is just continuing his campaign to undermine and destroy the Liberal Party,” he opined with the authority of someone who skipped out on the Liberal Party after being elected on its ticket. But of course he did that more in sorrow than anger. We digress.

Bernardi: “He undermined and destroyed leader after leader after leader, policy after policy, he’s Kevin Rudd with a kayak and a better hair cut …”

Bevan (after much more Bernardi): “Did you come up with that line by yourself?”

Modestly, Bernardi’s heartfelt, long reply contained no answer.

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