One of the things that I miss about not living in Australia is the refreshing directness of language in parliamentary politics. A number of Australian politicians have exercised the extreme limits of parliamentary privilege when attacking the opposition, but the undisputed master in the art of political invective was (of course) former prime minister Paul Keating.
Watching Keating at work was genuinely entertaining, as he had a “take no prisoners” style when dealing with Opposition questions. One of my favourite occasions was when he was challenged by Coalition leader John Hewson to go to an early election, you can see Keating’s response courtesy of youtube:
Even Hewson laughed at that one.
If you enjoy such verbal rough-housing then you might like a trip down memory lane with the Paul Keating Insults Archive, showcasing some of his finest moments.
