Grandfather of the house Philip Ruddock had the Twitterati in a tizz yesterday when he tweeted yesterday morning that he would be making an “importance announcement” later in the day via the social media platform, which the 72-year-old has taken to like a duck in water this year. After a suspense-filled morning, Ruddock announced that on the final sitting day of Parliament for the year, he would wear a safari suit to Parliament to raise money for motor neurone research.

So far $146.50 has been pledged to the fundraising page, just over 10% of the way to the $1000 goal. We wondered if wearing a safari suit would contravene the dress code of the House of Representatives, but according to chapter fiveof the House of Representatives Practice, it was ruled in 1977 that “it was acceptable for Members to wear tailored ‘safari’ suits without a tie”. Ruddock was elected in 1973 — maybe the previous ruling was made for him?