A few years ago, I observed that the once sharp-as-a-tack Ray Martin was declining into a silly old man. To be fair, my wife made a similar observation although she described the descent as being to that of a silly old woman. I just want to clear that up before I go any further. I based the assessment, not on his presentation skills, but on the subjects upon which he chose to exercise them. However, no matter, into which silly old gender he was descending, I can now say that, based on a news report I read today, the descent is complete. With the disclaimer that what I am about to recount is hearsay, it seems Ray was talking to John Howard and Paul Keating on ABC about gay marriage. He was trying to persuade Keating to change a viewpoint he held some years ago that “two men and a Cocker Spaniel” do not constitute a family. Keating, stubborn as ever, refused to recant, and even added that you certainly can’t build a nation on that concept of family. I don’t need to tell you that, for once, John Howard and he agreed on something. This started me musing. Let’s think of two loving blokes getting together and deciding to cross the ditch (dutch) to the land of the long white cloud (black if that’s your preference) to get married. In New Zealand, they get hitched (hutched), and return to Australia to set up home as man and husband. They then pop over to the nearest puppy farm and buy themselves a cute little eight-weeks old Cocker Spaniel. Returning home, they fill out an application form and send it off to Tony Abbott applying for six months paid parental leave. Now who wouldn’t vote for that?
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 23:54:47 +0000