Bye Mad Dog

So Richard Prebble made his validictory speech to parliament today. And it was classic Prebble! He told some absolutely hilarious stories and got pretty emotional too. Now this might scare some of my buddies but I must say well done Richard, I'll miss ya. Richard Prebble is someone who is probably as far away from me on the ideological continuum as possible but I have a lot of respect for the man. The thing I liked the most about Prebble MP is his commitment to the standing orders. He is a man of process. He is a man that staunchly believes that parliament must remain consistent. And while I don't neccessarily agree with some of the conventions of parliament, I definitely agree that in debate, you need to have rules, and those rules should be followed. My favourite memories of Prebble will always be the standing order discussions between him and Jonathan Hunt. You'd have one or two members jumping up and down with points of order and then Hunt would make a ruling, and then Prebble would get up and point out an inconsistency with the ruling. The whole house would stop while Hunt and Prebble worked out between them what was fair and consistent. They both had such mutual respect for each other and it was great to see them work together on those occaisions. The other thing about Prebble is that he would always stick up for any other MP in the House if they weren't getting the fair treatment they deserved. Especially the newer MPs, Prebble was always really good at helping them learn the ropes, no matter what party they were from. So goodbye Prebs, you did a great innings and you played bloody fair sport. Best wishes for the future, the place won't be the same without you.