Treasurer Scott Morrison waved around a lump of black coal in Question Time on Thursday, taunting Labor and yelling "Don't be scared!"
Why? Do you really want to know? Okay.
Well, Scott Morrison had been asked a Dorothy Dixer (which means a really easy question) by WA's member for Canning, Andrew Hastie, about trying to keep down the cost of living in regional areas.
Morrison stood up, walked to the despatch box while covering something large in his hand with a piece of paper, then thrust it into the air and waved it at Labor.
He managed to say this much – "Thank you, Mr Speaker. This is coal! Don't be afraid! Don't be scared!" – before the speaker interjected about the rules on bringing props into the chamber.
"It's coal, it was dug up by men and women who work and live in the electorates of those who sit opposite," Morrison said.
"There is no word for coal-phobia technically, Mr Speaker, but it is that malady that affects those opposite [Labor], and it is that malady that is affecting the towns and jobs and, indeed, this country, because of their pathological, ideological opposition to coal being an important part of our sustainable and more certain energy future."
A Labor MP was quick to interject on Twitter that GOLD is mined in the electorate of Canning, not coal.
@MarkDiStef except the mine gold in Canning, not coal
The lump was then passed around the government's backbench, with MPs taking time to give it a nice pat.
Just an ordinary day in Parliament passing around a lump of coal #auspol 📸 by @NickHaggarty
It then settled between the feet of Barnaby Joyce.
