Bronwyn Bishop Set A New Question Time Record For Kicking MPs Out

Growing up in a country that has sport so inexorably entrenched in its veins, you learn very quickly from a young age to always strive for greatness; that you can always push yourself a little higher, a little further, a little faster; that records are there to be broken; that you can always do better than your best. Though not all of us can be professional sports people, that driven, winning attitude always flows through to other areas of your life. So even if you get saddled with a decidedly unathletic job like, oh… say, Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, that shouldn’t stop you from treating it with a sports-like mentality.

And that’s exactly how Bronwyn Bishop treats her job – there are no friends in battle, and she’s here to boot as many goals as possible whilst rubbing the other team’s face in the dirt.
Yesterday was a banner day for Bishop’s career as a speaker, ejecting a grand total of 18 MPs during Question Time. Not only a new PB for a single sitting, but a new all-time Parliamentary record.
But whilst it might be something of a game to her, it’s curious to note that every single one of those 18 unruly knockabouts that she unceremoniously ejected from her Chamber of Secrets was from the red side of the floor. All 18 were Labor MPs.
This, for better or worse, is not even close to being an anomaly. Over the course of her tenure as Speaker of the Lower House, Bronwyn’s record now stands at 285 ejections, with 280 of them being Labor.
Bishop defended the ejections, stating that Labor’s behaviour had been “an absolute disgrace.” It should probably be noted that, at least in the past, behaviour she classifies as being a disgrace has included the dire faux pas of laughing.
So, make of that what you will.
Photo: Stefan Postles via Getty Images.

via The Age.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV