The newly elected opposition leader, Angus Taylor, may have a spring in his step on Friday after winning his party room vote – but not all sides of the political spectrum have wished him well.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, took aim at Taylor during question time this week, describing him as “born with a silver foot in his mouth” and “failing upwards” throughout his career. The former prime minister Malcom Turnbull was even more frank, telling ABC TV that people described him as the “best-qualified idiot they’ve ever met”.
He’s not the first person to have borne the brunt of political shade. Cast your mind back to some of these gems.
‘Irresponsible and a sook’
There is a gentle power to calling someone a sook. It’s not the worst insult, by any means, but it is embarrassing.
Labor accused the then opposition leader, Peter Dutton, of being a tantrum-throwing “sook” in 2024, for trying to move a motion against the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in the heat of the debate over security checks for people fleeing Gaza.
Dutton was being “irresponsible and a sook”, the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said.
‘A desiccated coconut’
As far as insults go, the former prime minister Paul Keating has to be crowned victor.
A “desiccated coconut” was a favourite of his to describe John Howard, indicating, presumably, that he was shrivelled and lacking substance.
He also described Howard colourfully as a “pre-Copernican obscurantist” in 2007 and went nautical when reflecting: “Well, the thing about poor old [Peter] Costello, he’s all tip and no iceberg.”
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Of course, he also regularly sparred with the former leader of the Coalition, John Hewson, describing him as a “shiver waiting for a spine” and a “feral abacus”.
And who could forget another food analogy he used on Hewson in 1989, remarking in question time that listening to him was “like being flogged by a warm lettuce” and “mauled by a dead sheep”. Ouch.
‘Not a leader, just a Liberal’
This one may have slipped from the memory bank as it occurred during the depths of marathon press conferences over Covid-19, but the former premier of Victoria Dan Andrews twisted the knife in to Josh Frydenberg when he described him as “not a leader, just a Liberal” over the then federal treasurer’s criticism of pandemic restrictions in 2020.
“He’s not a leader, he is just a Liberal [who likes to] play politics all day, every day,” Andrews said. “Victorians are sick of it.”
You might also recall him describing Scott Morrison during the same time period as the “prime minister for NSW”. We all love a little state rivalry.
‘Tiberius with a telephone’
Remember William McMahon? Me neither. But you may remember Gough Whitlam’s classic description of the former prime minister as “Tiberius with a telephone”.
The description related to his search for allies to help rid him of John Gorton as defence minister, and his manipulative political tactics.
It has gone on to be the name of a biography about McMahon’s life and story, published decades after his passing.
A ‘grub?’
This one is still up in the air.
The then education minister, Christopher Pyne, was in a real mood during question time in 2014, hurling insults at the then opposition leader, Bill Shorten.
“If the ‘number one whinger in Australia’ was a reality TV show, Madam Speaker, there’d be no point in any other contestant entering it, because if Bill Shorten entered it, he would win it,” Pyne exclaimed.
His speech was interrupted by yells from Burke, leading Pyne to pause before saying: “You’re such a …” But the last word in his sentence was difficult to hear, with some believing he had dropped the C-bomb.
When approached by the media for comment, Pyne’s office was adamant he had said “grub”. A C-bomb, perhaps, is yet to grace parliament’s halls.
