Barnaby Rubbles Again

Well, Barnaby. You say you're in it to represent the little people, but apparently 80,000-odd little people weren't enough. I recall that's about how many people signed the ACTU's petition opposing the WorkChoices Bill. Ah, but I forgot. You only represent the little people of Queensland. And, within Queensland, only the little people of the National Party. But what's this? Even they opposed the bill but you still voted for them after squeezing out the pissiest of pissy amendments?

Shame, Barnaby, SHAME.

Did you ever see the famous poster, Barnaby - the one where the little boy's asking his father `What did YOU do in the War?', and the father's staring in to the distance thinking `Crikey ... bugger all, really!'. Barnaby, you're going to be that man. When your grandkids come to sit on your knee to ask what you did when you were a senator, you're going to have no stories to tell them. Other than `Well, I could have stopped this legislation that would have changed everything ... buuuut ... I didn't. Next story.' When they ask you `What was it like to hold the balance of power in one of the most fraught and contentious times in Australian politics?', are you going to be able to look them in the eye? No, sadly, you are not.

True, it's unfair to place the burden of an entire epoch-making (or breaking) piece of legislation on a single person. But boy - when it's in their hands ... just imagine how different it all could have been if, as initially thought, the balance of power were held by Family First senator Stephen Fielding. Anyone remember those Family Impact Statements that the Coalition rashly promised would be attached to all legislation? Only Fielding himself and the ACTU, apparently ...