I can understand General Brassbottom wanting another medial pinned on his chest, its an army thing. You fly over a bunch of peasants squatting in the dirt, in some far off, god forsaken back water, in your ultra modern state of the art jet plane, bomb the crap out of em', and then they stick a medal on your chest for heroism in the face of the enemy, well at 600 km/hr from 30,000 feet away, close enough! Its an army thing.
Quincy Bryce, is another matter all together. I did take her for being a somewhat 21st century woman, a progressive, a beacon for change. Seems old Quincy has been seduced by a trinket. Maybe the lady plans to follow in a famous predecessors footsteps, and do a Dame Nelle Melba, Nelle was famous for making comebacks after she retired, several times. In that way old Quincy might become the first Queen of the Republic. Queen Quincy I, got a ring to it all the same.

Hasbeen,

On Vietnam, I could have been one of those other students you were tossing eggs at, I suppose I should be grateful, it could have been worse, you could have been tossing the standard Vietnam War kit, NAPALM BOMBS.
Those "radical hate filled lefties", unlike your side who were just gushing forth with the milk of human kindness, filled with love and devotion for their fellow man...was that before or after they BAYONETED THE CHILDREN. Bad subject Vietnam for the conservatives, mention of the war is taboo, they want to forget about that "little indiscretion" I think John Howard mentioned it once, and his support, but he got away with it.

Foxy "Sir Pository of Wisdom" I like it, its Abbott all over. Everyone's favorite "Grand Mom" could carry out the investiture in new and exciting way, instead of using a sward, as per the norm, she could deliver the knighthood with a red hot poker, LOL

I'm only dirty on the fact The Lord Abbott has not gone the whole hog, and reintroduced jousting for our new knights. I can just picture Sir Tony at one end, and Sir Bill at the other, surely the son-in-law of her excellency will be in line for a gong, that goes without saying. Charging head long at each other, their trusty swards in hand! Bang goes Sir Bill, Lady Bronwyn has come out of right field, yelling "off with his head" Lady Bronwyn would not be caught dead coming out of left field, she has brought Sir Bill undone, wasn't expecting that.

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/laughter-canned-speaker-bronwyn-bishop-rules-new-tactic-of-infectious-laughter-out-of-order-20140327-35jv0.html

Please be standing for Lord and Lady muck. Fancy calling B Bishop a lady. What a political circus. Trust Lord Abbott to cause some news around the world, AU has just stepped back into the 18th century. We need a republic before this gets out of hand. Find that picture of the queen and resurrect it in the hall way now.

Well, I haven't had such a good laugh in a long time.

Bring it on, Tones.

What's yer next bright idea?

(we commoners note that this was a decision taken without consultation)

Just on the subject of Dame Bronnie of Bias, here's an article by Peter van Onselen (who writes for the Australian, the Telegraph and appears on Sky News - so hardly a dyed-in-the-wool leftie)

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/lady-justice-wears-a-blindfold-not-an-eyepatch/story-fni0cwl5-1226860901473

"Lady Justice wears a blindfold, not an eyepatch."

"BRONWYN Bishop’s performance as Speaker is now becoming a distraction for the new government. She should be forced to step aside if she won’t even pretend to start acting in a less partisan manner.

Nobody in this country seriously expects our Speaker to act with the impartiality of the British Speaker. In the UK, the opposition by convention doesn’t run a candidate against the Speaker, in order to ensure they can rise above the partisan contest...."

"But Bishop should at least provide the occasional glimpse of balance, surely?

I wrote a column in late November last year lamenting Bishop’s poor performance after just two weeks in the chair. My fear was that she wasn’t likely to improve.

In fact, she has got worse. Bishop throws Labor MPs out of the chamber with gay abandon. She regularly shuts down points of order before even hearing them.

She enters the partisan debate, throwing quips and smirks into the equation in a way that should be beneath the Speaker. And she rarely if ever rules against the government on anything."

Someone quipped Question Time now resembles the riotous classroom you walk past where the relief teacher is in charge, but not in control.