Briefly: This is the state of politics in Victoria right now. Adem Somyurek, the shadow minister for technology and manufacturing, got in trouble from the Victorian Parliament’s upper house president yesterday for shining a laser on the forehead of a Liberal MP across the chamber.
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According to the Herald Sun, President of the Victorian Parliamentary Legislative Council, Bruce Atkinson, actually had to stop proceedings in the middle of question time to find out why Liberal MP Bernie Finn had a red dot hovering around on his face.
When he was caught out, Somyurek apparently dropped the laser quickly onto his chair (and hopefully pretended nothing happened). Afterwards, Liberal government health minister David Davis gave his professional opinion: “It’s not the laser itself, it’s the use to which it was put. I think it is certainly unacceptable.”
Bruce Atkinson’s statement during question time yesterday has shades of an angry school teacher telling off his students:
“It is extraordinary and a matter of concern to have that sort of device aimed at a member and it wasn’t just once, it was on his forehead a couple of times.
“You’re actually very lucky in this circumstance that I don’t send you out of the house because I regard it as that serious.”
Since Somyurek is the minister for technology, it’s entirely appropriate that he was using a pen that can shoot lasers, but he shouldn’t have been shining it at other people — that’s a recipe for an expensive trip to the optometrist. [Herald Sun]