Jimmy's weblog

It’s not every day that politicians make you laugh rather than cringe, but the debate over the government’s legislative priorities has produced a few genuinely funny moments. Labor accuses the government of being “soft on terror but hard on homosexuals” by giving priority to a ban on gay marriages over new anti-terrorism laws.

Asked yesterday whether this meant the Government considered gay couples more of a threat to Australia than terrorists, Prime Minister John Howard demurred.

“Well, we have very strong laws already on anti-terrorism, and, look, the question of the order of things in the Senate, you’d better ask the Senate leadership about that,” he said.

The Age

In a sign of the government’s priorities, only three bills will be voted on before the Senate adjourns, possibly for the last time before the Federal election; The US free trade deal, the gay marriage ban and and legislation to remove the rights of prisoners to vote.

My favourite quote came from Robert McClelland, Labor’s spokesman for homeland security, when he described the governments priorities as “queer”. He went on to say “The Attorney-General really should get his priorities straight”.