Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the House of an important development. On Sunday, the Leader of the House updated his register of interests to include two tickets to the Adelaide Festival's performance of Hamlet. Was the Leader of the House there to learn from Shakespeare's classic tale of ambition, betrayal, revenge, or crippling indecision—or was he there to offer a few tips of his own? And one wonders which way the sweet prince of Sturt cast his vote today. To be Wentworth, or to be Dickson; that is the question. And, as the restless ghosts of old kings walk the battlements up there on the backbench, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

But, as much as Shakespeare could pen a mighty tragedy, we also know that he enjoyed a good farce and a little bit of slapstick. That must be the only explanation for the reports we now hear today that the member for Flinders is now a candidate for deputy leader! And, apparently, he is desperate for the job. But, alas, poor Yorick! This was not to be.

Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play at 4,000 lines and nearly four hours. Sadly, the Liberal Party civil war has been going for five years, but Australians are still waiting for the curtain.

See this speech in context