Tips and rumours

From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Hasta la vista, baby. As question time increasingly becomes one of those animatronic displays where life-like but robotic figures endlessly rehearse the same statements, thank goodness for Agriculture Minister Barnaby “Red” Joyce. Yesterday he gave an answer that started off being about the dairy industry but then veered into a different kind of robotic territory. Minus interruptions from the opposition, Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and his colleagues, it went:

“We used to think they were terminators — even the member for Hunter last week was still a terminator under his breath. I said, ‘Mate, you’re no longer terminators.’ He said, ‘Well, I am, I’m still a little bit of a terminator.’ You were a massive terminator, you were a massive terminator, but no longer. I think the only terminators that are left in the Labor Party …

“But I tell you what: there are still two terminators on the other side — there still are. There is Tanya the terminator — Or Member for Sydney the terminator, but she is not going to terminate the bill on the carbon tax; she is going to terminate — the bill at the front desk. That is what she is going to terminate. But there are other terminators. There is the member for Grayndler. I think he might be a bit of a terminator as well –he is the people’s choice of a terminator. So we look forward to them terminating you very soon.”

And to think we used to complain about Mar’n Ferguson’s mumbles.

A bootable offence. Speaker of the House Bronwyn Bishop seems to take great delight in in kicking Labor MPs out of question time, and yesterday Gellibrand MP Tim Watts took some umbrage at being booted. The 32-year-old MP took to Instragram to express his displeasure at his expulsion, using a version of the Australian flag made famous in an episode of The Simpsons.

Watts is an enthusiastic user of Instagram, and Ms Tips has spotted a few real-life versions of the boot flag on cars and in windows on her visits to Watts’ electorate. Could the order of the boot be the new light on the hill for the ALP?

Open-plan grumbles. A mole who knows about the construction of new housing commission flats in the Melbourne ‘burb of Carlton passed this on:

“The new apartments that are being built have been designed to be open plan, but apparently DHS is having to look at retrofitting partitions because female Muslim residents who wear headscarves have complained that the open-plan design means they have to remain covered while cooking if men from outside the family are present in the living room.”

We put this to the DHS and got this response:

“No work has been undertaken on any of the units to retrofit on the basis of religious grounds. All properties are viewed prior to accepting for tenancy and no concerns have been raised by prospective tenants.”

Is there a downside to the open-plan living that’s so increasingly in vogue?

When Clive met Al … and Batman? We at the Crikey bunker were enthralled by the decidedly odd presser from the mining magnate and the environmental maven. But was Gore the only crusader in the room? Sure looks like the Dark Knight’s own shadow on the wall behind Clive …

MONA saga drags on. Yesterday we noted Hobart gallery MONA had apologised to Tasmanian Aborigines for a controversial exhibition by Swiss artist Christoph Buchel. We thought the apology (which was vague) was about a poster showing white sheep kicking out a black sheep. However, the Hobart Mercury says the apology relates to a different part of Buchel’s exhibition — “a display offering free DNA testing with the words ‘Are you of Aboriginal descent?'”. Put it this way — Buchel sure managed to ruffle some feathers.

New political party forms. Our attention was caught by this meme. But please — attention to spelling next time, Clive Palmer.