#003: Oleaginity in federal parliament

Mike Carlton in the SMH Weekend Edition 21/10/2006, News Review

I am not sure why, but there is a collective silliness infecting the federal cabinet at the moment.

The assertion by the Education Minister, Julie Bishop, that Maoists have seized control of school curriculums is a prime example. Then, Nick Minchin, the oleaginous Finance Minister, solemnly explained to the Senate that the drought was due to a lack of rain. That was topped, for piercing insight, by Tony Abbott’s trailblazing theory that the national obesity epidemic was caused by fat people.