Here's one I prepared earlier

MR M.J. COWPER (Murray) [10.24 pm]: [...] Some people like to get up early in the morning. They like to exercise in the morning and get going and be on their way. Various members have spoken about their experiences and what they like to do first thing in the morning. I am a morning person. When I was younger, I was a late-night person. As one gets older, the general trend is that one prefers to get up early and go to bed early. I do not know about other members, but I have difficulty staying awake after about 9.30 in the evening, given that I am up at about quarter to five most mornings. The fact is that when the sun comes up, I get up and when the sun goes down, I go home, have my dinner and go to bed.

Mr A.D. McRae: You’re like a chook!

Mr M.J. COWPER: I am exactly like a chook. I am a bit like that member. The only difference between the member and Fat Cat is that Fat Cat has friends.

Mr A.D. McRae: You’ve had that one lined up for a while, haven’t you?

Mr M.J. COWPER: The minister left me no option; I had to lob that one back over the fence.

Subject: Daylight Saving Bill (no. 2) 2006 [Legislative Assembly - Standing Orders -- Suspension]

Date: 31 October 2006

Hansard reference: pp. 7886b - 7952a [online (pdf)]

Tags: parliament, state government, perth, wa, dst, daylight savings

Working on the sequel

A year after this...

Mr N.R. MARLBOROUGH: [...] The parliamentary secretary may not be aware - I was not aware of this matter until it was raised with me - of the problems many our wethers and steers experience with their pizzle. Thankfully, I have not caught it! I have not been out in the paddock long enough. However, I understand it is a major problem. Pizzle rot is occurring everywhere. It is increasing rapidly and causing all sorts of problems for farmers. Is the parliamentary secretary aware of the incidence of pizzle rot in wethers and steers? Is the restricted access to the steroid testosterone impacting on producers?

Mr A.D. McRAE: I might have to defer that question!

The CHAIRMAN: The last parliamentary secretary had to phone a friend; perhaps the parliamentary secretary would like 50-50!

Mr A.D. McRAE: I polished up on my knowledge of carnal bunt and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, but I did not deal with pizzle rot! I might ask some scientists to give us that information by way of supplementary information, because at the moment we are struggling to understand the extent of the problem.

Subject: Division 11: Agriculture, $148 576 000 - [Legislative Assembly - Estimates Committee]

Date: 9 June 2005

Hansard reference: pp. 374b - 387a [online (pdf)]

Tags: wa, state government, perth, parliament

You know you're going to at least search for him in the contact directory now

Mr A.J. SIMPSON: [...] I also mentioned that people are able to contact me via MSN. The idea behind using MSN was that it was the latest way of getting in touch with people. I can also be contacted by SMS, which is how many kids communicate. It is kind of a shame, because people will probably lose their communication skills by using SMS. The beauty of e-mail and SMS is that one can choose whether to answer a message today or tomorrow. It is not like the phone ringing and having to talk to someone. That is the way kids communicate these days. I thought that if I could provide this service, I might be able to capture more of the youth market as a member of Parliament. It would enable them to talk to me and me to talk to them and hopefully answer their questions. I probably average a dozen messages a week. Some weeks I get a lot and other weeks I get only two or three. I am sometimes asked straightforward questions. One kid asked me the other day about how to get a skate park in his area. [...] After about a 20-minute conversation, this kid knew a lot more about politics, how the system works and how to chase up getting a skate park. He probably cannot vote for me for another four or five years, but that is beside the point. I think he was happy to do that.

Mr A.D. McRae: He would be a Labor voter anyway.

Mr A.J. SIMPSON: I do not know. If he is using the Internet and telecommunications, he is probably more likely to be a Liberal voter.

Mr M.P. Murray: Do you know the difference between a Labor voter and a computer? With computers you only have to punch in the information once.

Subject: Criminal Code Amendment (Cyber Predators) Bill 2005 [Legislative Assembly - Motion]

Date: 8 November 2005

Hansard reference: pp. 6891b - 6907a [online (pdf)]

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

Effervescent, or, more than Greenough?

Ms J.A. RADISICH: [...] It is my opinion that fizzy drinks do not have a place in schools. I am sure some people will disagree with me. Some schools have said that their canteens need to sell junk food and fizzy drinks to make money. It is not an acceptable argument. I put it to the government that if it is the case that this issue is about providing funding to schools rather than what kids are eating, it becomes a separate issue that needs consideration.

Mr A.D. McRae: What sort of fizzy drinks are you talking about?

Ms J.A. RADISICH: I thank the member for Riverton for asking.

Ms K. Hodson-Thomas: Did you prompt him?

Ms J.A. RADISICH: No, I did not. However, he did well.

I looked at the nutritional content, or lack thereof, of some fizzy drinks that currently are available in some schools. It is cause for great alarm, which I will demonstrate. For example, Coca-Cola and Sprite are common drinks that are available to children at some schools, drinks that I am sure many members have ingested on occasion. Members know that Sprite and Coke have a high sugar content. It is something in the order of 16 teaspoons of sugar in just one can of drink. Professor Dingle from Murdoch University has stated that if we stopped drinking two cans of these drinks per day, we would all lose half a kilo per month.

Mr G. Woodhams: I will disappear!

Ms J.A. RADISICH: The member for Greenough needs to keep drinking them, but the rest of us could probably cut back.

Subject: Appropriation (Consolidated Fund) Bill (no. 1) 2006 [Legislative Assembly Second Reading - Cognate Debate]

Date: 17 May 2006

Hansard reference: pp. 2794b - 2848a [online (pdf)]

Tags: parliament, perth, state government, wa, fizzy drinks, soft drinks