This year's models

MR T.R. BUSWELL (Vasse - Deputy Leader of the Opposition) [4.17 pm]: [...] I know that the Treasurer is on a fairly tight time line. I know that tomorrow is his moment in the sun. He will turn up at Parliament House just before two o’clock in the afternoon in his government car. The cameras will be there. He will step out briskly and walk into the chamber. We have heard today that a photographer from The West Australian will capture the moment for posterity, so I assume that the Treasurer will need to get away early tonight for a tizzy up or some such thing.

Ms J.A. Radisich: I reckon he is looking pretty good!

Mr T.R. BUSWELL: I reckon he is looking pretty good as well. Enough indulgence. Before I go on, I should point out to the Treasurer that there has been a rumour in the corridors of Parliament -

Mr F.M. Logan: About you!

Mr T.R. BUSWELL: I am involved in it. There is a rumour that members of Parliament should come together to create an MPs calendar for sale and distribution across Western Australia to raise funds for an identified charity. It was put to me that perhaps the Treasurer and I could be the joint Mr Januarys in our Speedos or some such thing! With that thought, as I do not want to put the Treasurer off sleeping tonight, I will move on. There are a couple of serious matters -

Mr M. McGowan: Shane Warne style.

Mr T.R. BUSWELL: Yes, but will the bunny ears be up or down? I will move on.

The ACTING SPEAKER (Dr S.C. Thomas): I ask the member to move on to the substance of the debate.

Subject: Actual Government Spending and Budget Estimates [Legislative Assembly - Motion]

Date: 10 May 2006

Hansard reference: pp. 2513b - 2526a [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament, calendar

Stumping chance

MR B.K. MASTERS (Vasse) [4.33 pm]: [...] It is my view that the Premier is Western Australia’s equivalent of Shane Warne. Shane Warne is very clever at spin, bearing in mind his 491 test wickets - he will probably take a lot more - but what is happening when neither Shane Warne nor the Premier are on the field? When we look at what they are doing when they are not spinning, so to speak, I think we will understand that both the Premier and Shane Warne are doing things with their messages - in Shane Warne’s case by SMS messages on the phone and in the Premier’s case in a whole range of other ways - that are less than honourable. For example, the Premier in so many of his activities blames everyone but his own Government for the Government’s inability to solve problems and to deal with the important issues of the State. Instead, the Government and the Premier go off and spin into all sorts of different, irrelevant and largely illusory issues.

I do not want to talk in any detail about Shane Warne’s apparent lack of -

Dr G.I. Gallop: I was a leg spin bowler, and I can bowl a wrong’un too.

Mr B.K. MASTERS: “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!” - at least on the cricket field!

I do not wish to comment on Shane Warne’s apparent long-term commitment to his wife, but I note that the Premier in this case should in theory be married to both the union movement and to WA’s working class. However, the Premier and the Australian Labor Party - this Government - are now wedded to anyone who will deliver them green votes and to anyone who is associated with the antidevelopment chardonnay-sipping socialist set. They have left their roots behind. I could make some puns about that, but I will not. Unfortunately I have to accuse the Premier of being WA’s equivalent of Shane Warne.

Mr P.B. Watson: A winner!

Mr B.K. MASTERS: The member for Albany should think about what he is saying. Like the famous cricketer, the Premier’s spin is now being shown for what it really is - a distraction from his real job, which is to govern Western Australia for the betterment of all Western Australians. Unfortunately, on this issue of Ningaloo and Mauds Landing the Premier is spinning, spinning, spinning on a -

Mr R.N. Sweetman interjected.

Mr B.K. MASTERS: Maybe a stump, but he is on a very sticky wicket. I am pleased to say that finally the media is starting to understand the rules by which he plays his game.

Subject: Ningaloo Reef Coastline [Legislative Assembly - Motion]

Date: 13 August 2003

Hansard reference: pp. 9895b - 9918a [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament, cricket, warnie, spin, gallop

Ashes to ashes

Hon PETER FOSS: [...] The House sent this Bill to the Standing Committee on Legislation to make what looked to be an unworkable supplementary notice paper into a workable one. Had the House tried to operate under normal circumstances, it would have been totally perplexed -

Hon Simon O’Brien: Can the minister get that ringing phone for me?

Hon Tom Stephens: My apologies, Mr Deputy Chairman. I think it’s my wife.

The DEPUTY CHAIRMAN (Hon Barry House): Standing Orders are very clear on this issue.

Hon PETER FOSS: I do not know whether that constitutes an interjection, but I am sure it is unruly.

Hon Simon O’Brien: If it is a message from Warnie, I want it tabled.

Subject: Environmental Protection Amendment Bill 2002 [Legislative Council - Committee]

Date: 21 August 2003

Hansard reference: pp. 10329b - 10360a [online (pdf)]

Tags: parliament, perth, state government, wa, warnie, mobile