Ladies And Gentlemen, Your New UN Ambassador!

I'm by no means an expert on Australian parliamentary procedure, but there do seem to be a few features that recur down the generations:

Mr Tripodi had been speaking in Parliament last night about the Pacific Highway when Mr Fraser lunged at him and grabbed him by the throat.

I travelled all the way around the world to be closer to stories like this, and it was worth every minute. Be sure not to miss the Hansard transcript; it actually reads rather like one of Harold Pinter's more recent poems:

I should have asked you about the 13 deaths. You tell us about the 13 deaths, you bloody clown! Get in here! Come in here and tell us about the 13 deaths.

Come to think, it's too metrical - it's more like one of those T.S. Eliot fragments where somebody's going on about dissolving women's bodies in bathtubs. A high point of modern politics, either way.