Rod Culleton has had a wild year. He was elected as a One Nation senator and almost instantly drowned in scandals, before unceremoniously quitting from the party less than six months later.
Culleton is currently facing a court battle over whether or not he was legitimately elected as a senator thanks to a conviction he had at the time that has since been thrown out, and he had also been having personality clashes with Pauline Hanson for pretty much the entire duration of the brief tenure he enjoyed as a senator – despite his best attempts to make like everything was fine.
“Everything’s fine.” ?? #9Today https://t.co/Sigzjm3Bi1
— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) November 23, 2016
Not one to break from traditional, his day facing a bankruptcy hearing in a Perth courtroom today was pretty much a perfect microcosm of his career, with all the upsets and particularly Australiana-y kitschiness we’ve come to expect from him.
In one instance, Culleton threatened to leave the courtroom if two men who he believed to have violated restraining orders were not removed, but continued after his wife told him that she had it under control. Shortly thereafter, they were both removed by police.
The real kickers, though, were two of the most unbelievably Australian things possibly ever to have happened in a courtroom: firstly, Culleton getting admonished by the judge for referring to the court as “mate”.
Judge tells Senator Culleton – “Don’t refer to the court as mate”. @abcnewsPerth
— Nicolas Perpitch (@NicPerpitch) December 19, 2016
And even more impressively, being accused of stealing his legal strategy from classic Australian comedy film ‘The Castle‘:
Culleton is basing one of his legal arguments on the famous movie The Castle, lawyer for creditor Dick Lester tells the court.
— Andrew Burrell (@AndrewBurrell7) December 19, 2016
Say what you will about his politics, he is definitely a character.
Source: ABC.
