Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Cook rather gracefully referred to the work of the Treasurer with a rugby league analogy. And we all know that there is no higher praise that one can give an Australian alpha male than to compare him to a rugby league player! What a compliment the member for Cook gave the Treasurer. He said, when describing the budget:

It's not unlike, you know, the way that a prop forward takes the ball up. I'll be the prop forward talking it up and he can be the one who will score the try and that's what he'll be doing on budget day.

…   …   …

He's our Greg Bird.

For those from the southern parts of our federation who do not know who Greg Bird is: Greg Bird is currently suspended for eight weeks. So, he is sitting on the sideline—not unlike our Treasurer! And Greg Bird was recently fined for urinating on a police car on the eve of his wedding. This was his description:

It's put a dampener on our wedding weekend.

What an understatement! That is the description that the member for Cook offers of the Treasurer. That is why they are in chaos; that is why— (Time expired)

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