In my dream scenario, the person working in parliament that got fired for putting something ill-advised on the internet in the last week would have been George Christensen, but it is my sad duty to announce that, in reality, it’s actually the parliamentary staffer responsible for sending out the meme roasting Barnaby Joyce this morning.
The email was sent out from Liberal MP Nola Marino‘s office with the sender identified as her media advisor, and was almost immediately recalled (that thing you can do that means basically nothing):
This just sent out from @NolaMarinoMP’s office…..and then recalled! @Barnaby_Joyce @TonyAbbottMHR 🤨 @SkyNewsAust pic.twitter.com/C7ZM5s4WdM
— Laura Jayes (@ljayes) February 25, 2018
It ended up in the hands of political journalists, who apparently have very little regard for the concept of recalling an email, and thus ended up firmly embedded in the news cycle.
The ABC identified the person sacked as media advisor Ryan Hadjimihalakis, who was let go on the same day that the email was sent. We’d have to do a comprehensive check of historical precedent to be certain, but it seems fairly likely that Hadjimihalakis might be the first person sacked from a parliamentary job over a meme.
Look, in his defence, Barnaby did get in trouble in class, and now he’s on the backbench with the weird kid no one likes. Where’s the lie?
