Parliament House has some strange rituals. Have a look at the Reps standing orders,
for example, which say it’s OK for members to wear hats while seated in
the Chamber – but that you have to doff your lid if you’re going to
speak.

That’s nothing compared to the briefings the Government
and opposition conduct on Tuesdays after their party room meetings.
Euphemisms rule the day. Anonymous MPs provide po-faced accounts of
what went on behind the closed doors that both they and the media know
are obsolescent hangovers from the House of Commons lobby system.

Bland
statements are met with half irritated, half jokey requests from
journalists for further information – within the limits that these
meetings offer. Individual members, for example, are not named.
Backbenchers keen to ingratiate themselves to journalists or with an
axe to grind – and ministers, too, for that matter – are only too keen
to provide more detailed accounts later. We only hear, like we did
yesterday, that a member has reserved their right to oppose the Telstra
bill and another member has flagged they will abstain for voting.

And
suddenly, among all this, something can tumble out – as it did
yesterday, when we were told between the bundle of flannel that “the
Prime Minister said Telstra’s behaviour has been disgraceful.”

Everyone
stopped. Then before anyone could leap in with questions, one senior
journalist turned to the briefer and declared: “You’ve buried your
lead.”