A Long Time Ago... The #5and5 Best And Worst Moments In Parliament.

Manager of Opposition Business Tony Burke brings you the #5and5 best and worst moments from Parliament this week.

The speeches remembering Gough Whitlam continued this week - there are some great stories.

BEST

1. Bill Shorten launched Labor’s campaign against Tony Abbott’s plans to saddle students with a debt sentence.

How long will it take you to pay off your uni debt?

2. Across the entire Caucus Labor stood up to speak out against $100,000 degrees.

3. “These aren’t the policies you’re looking for.”

Mark Butler suggested Greg Hunt used Jedi mind tricks on Clive Palmer. It’s the only logical explanation as to why he's paying $2.55 billion to big polluters.

4. It’s Children’s Week and United Voice members, the union representing early childhood educators, was in Canberra talking about the importance of quality in our early childhood sector.

The first five years in a person’s life are the most important for development.

4. "It not even midday and Toney Abert already told I swear about a hundred lies.”This is one of more than 5000 tweets from the @Rudd2000 parody Twitter account, which this week launched a book.

WORST

1. He campaigned against petrol prices before the election - now he’s going through the backdoor and putting them up.

Via Twitter: @mpbowers

2. “There will not be deals done with independents and minor parties under any political movement that I lead.” That’s what Tony Abbott said before the election. After the election he did a deal with Clive Palmer to bring in “Direct Action".

The PM refused to say whether any of Clive Palmer’s companies would benefit from his fraudulent "Direct Action" policy.

3. When the Government cuts the wages of truck drivers, it’s not just an issue for the trucking industry, it’s a safety issue for everyone on the roads.

Labor Members made sure that road users were represented in standing against these unfair changes and supporting safe rates.

4. The worst thing about the Government’s second so called “Red Tape Repeal Day” is not its content, but its hype.

About the most interesting thing that happened this time around was the Government claiming $420,000 in regulatory savings by updating grammar in old legislation.

Ed Husic calls it "spring cleaning with a cotton bud," but I'm still hopeful of a punctuation led recovery.

5. Last week I wrote about Barnaby Joyce misleading the Parliament. When the official Parliamentary record, Hansard, was checked, it turned out it had been doctored to make it look like no errors had been made.

The Chamber often gets called a ‘bear pit’ a ‘boxing ring’ or even a ‘children’s sandpit,’ but the Liberal Member for Corangamite came up with a new idea this week, a café.

Via Twitter: @mearesy

Via Twitter: @mearesy

She wandered into a division with an “extra strong, extra hot” skim-milk coffee, and when the Speaker told her to dispose of it, came up with the cunning plan of hiding it behind Christopher Pyne’s boots. Just odd.

The #5and5Song of the Week is dedicated to Barnaby Joyce's approach to the official Hansard record.

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