George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, thank you Mr Deputy Speaker for calling on me to bring a prop. For the purposes of the Hansard: I am wearing a large Tom Baker scarf. I also thank the member for Mitchell and the members for Moreton and Fraser for speaking on this motion, which is one which I hope enjoys bipartisan support, given the fans across the chamber.

Fifty years ago this Saturday, two historical events occurred. The first was the tragic news of the assassination of John F Kennedy. The other was the first screening of the British Broadcasting Corporation science fiction series Doctor Who. A bit of trivia: the first screening of Doctor Who was actually delayed by the news of the US President's death at the time. Doctor Who was marketed as an educational show. The first story, called 'An Unearthly Child', introduced us to the Doctor, as he is called; not 'Doctor Who' as is traditionally thought but 'the Doctor'. He was an old, gruff, eccentric man who was in fact an alien being to our planet. We were also introduced to his granddaughter and two of her schoolteachers who were whisked away in this strange blue police box to the year 100,000 BC where they interacted with some cavemen—and that was the educational aspect of the show, that they would go back in time, looking to see what happened in the past. In fact, that strange blue Police public call box was a machine that travelled in time and space—anywhere throughout time and space. The very next story took the characters to an alien planet, Skaro, where they met the Daleks for the first time. The Daleks became almost synonymous with the show and that is true to this very day—in fact, that probably made the show what it is, because it scared the hell out of a lot of kids throughout Britain and elsewhere. For five decades, the show Doctor Who has enthralled audiences right across the world, particularly in the Anglosphere, with Australia being one of those countries where the enthralment has occurred.

There are a lot of links between Doctor Who and Australia that people are not aware of. In fact, I have left out of the terms of the motion a crucial link that I want to state from the outset. That link is that one of the architects behind the concept of the show was a fellow by the name of CE 'Bunny' Webber, as they called him. CE 'Bunny' Webber helped Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman, the other two people behind the show, to come up with the entire concept for Doctor Who. CE Webber was an Australian. He came up with the plot of the first story, which was then written in full by another Australian, Anthony Coburn. So the very concept of Doctor Who was formed with the help of an Australian; the very first episode of Doctor Who was written by an Australian; and, more than that, the famous theme tune—the 'dum de dum, dum de dum—'

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