Leyonhjelm calls Fraser condolence day a waste of time.

“I often say after eight years in Washington, I longed for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.” – Fred Thompson. 

The Fraser years (1975 – 83) began with a feeling of euphoria at getting rid of Whitlam, followed by eight years of inertia, then a sense of relief when he was tossed out. 

Now on his death, parliament has been suspended for the day in order to allow those who despised him, or were despised by him, to wax lyrical on what a great bloke he was.  Irony is lost on these people. 

Liberal Democrat senator, David Leyonhjelm seems to be the only stand out on this: 

A crossbench senator says halting Parliament for a day to pay tribute to former prime minister Malcolm Fraser is a waste of time. 

 Question time and other parliamentary business has been cancelled in the House of Representatives and the Senate on Monday to give MPs an opportunity to make a speech about Mr Fraser, who died on Friday after a short illness. The former Liberal Party leader was 84.  

"We have an awful lot of work to do and we lose a whole day for condolence motions? It might be OK to stop for a few hours but losing a whole day I think is over the top," Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm told Fairfax Media.  "I hope Hawkey doesn't die, otherwise we'll never get any work done."  

The NSW libertarian senator said most Australians would agree with his view that the tributes were a waste of time. He said voters expected parliamentarians to be working, "not slacking".  

Senator Leyonhjelm also doubted many MPs would even want to give a speech about Mr Fraser and said he would not be adding his voice to the tributes. "He was a right-wing extremist when I first knew him and he was a left-wing extremist when he died," Senator Leyonhjelm said.  

"And my mum said, 'If you can't say anything good about someone, don't say anything at all.' " …

It is easy to understand David’s frustration given the hours of monotonous long-winded diatribes, most delivered with all of the sincerity of mafia dons at a funeral for one of their colleagues that they ordered the hit on. 

The Gettysburg Address, which is still regarded as one of the finest ever delivered in American history, contained 272 words and about two minutes to deliver. Most of our current crop would need several thousand words (repeating each talking point three times) and an hour to address an allowance motion to scratch their bums.