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  1. #1
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    Hung parliament driving pollies to drink

    Hung parliament driving pollies to drink: GP MP
    Jessica Wright
    March 2, 2012 - 10:53AM

    Liberal MP and medical doctor Mal Washer has called for a limit on how late parliament sits for the sake of politicians' health.
    Politicians are being driven to drink to cope with the demands of the hung parliament, according to the only medically qualified MP in federal politics.

    West Australian Liberal MP Mal Washer — the only GP in Parliament — first raised concerns in March last year that longer working hours and strict parliamentary procedures could cause serious illness in MPs, including cancer and depression.

    In a submission to the standing procedures committee, Dr Washer outlined his concerns for his colleagues, their staff and the staff of Parliament.

    Dr Washer debated a motion in Parliament yesterday that formally called for the House of Representatives to close at 11pm.He said MPs were using alcohol to cope with sittings that extended past midnight.

    ''The later and longer people are here, there's a tendency for people to drink more alcohol,'' he said.

    He pointed to studies taken within parliament that showed tired people were less productive.

    ''Decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision-making,'' he said.

    NSW Labor MP Jill Hall has supported Dr Washer's call, while Victorian Liberal MP Russell Broadbent said some politicians' performances were ''atrocious after 11 o'clock at night''.

    NSW Labor MP Daryl Melham proposed more radical measures, saying that Parliament should sit no later than 8pm.

    ''We are walking around this place like zombies,'' he said. ''It is insane, it is madness. No one else would cop it. We should not cop it.''

    Dr Washer anticipated that any move to reduce the working week of politicians would attract public criticism but said that he preferred ''politicians to be healthy, efficient and productive''.

    ''These additional hours are having an adverse effect on the mental and physical health of members,'' he said.

    ''Physically, there is a drop in fitness levels and reduced immunity which would affect resistance to infection and malignancy and exacerbate chronic disease.

    ''There is a greater tendency for the use of medication to assist with sleeping and with some increased alcohol consumption.''

    Read more: More Politicians Drink To Cope With Demands of Parliament

  2. #2
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    It's small wonder that politicians make such disastrous decisions that we suffer from.
    Doctors and surgeons suffer the same mental fatigue trying to live up to totally unrealistic expectations at work.

    Is it an image thing, or what? Do these pollies think that they've got to be seen as hard working, long suffering and dedicate folk?

    They (and we) would be better off if they slept easy and started early then knocked off work earlier.
    Hell, think of being in a plane with the pilot suffering from sleep deprivation and intermittent alcohol abuse!

    Then again, Churchill was an alcoholic.

  3. #3
    Have you got any cheese Thetyim's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ENT
    Churchill was an alcoholic.
    Not true

    "Professor Warren Kimball of Rutgers, editor of the WSC-FDR correspondence and several erudite books on the leader, maintains that Churchill was not an alcoholic -"no alcoholic could drink that much!"

  4. #4
    god
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    Makes ya wanna grin,eh?

    Thatcher and Yetlzin, Muldoon were also, in great spirits!


  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by ENT View Post
    Makes ya wanna grin,eh?

    Thatcher and Yetlzin, Muldoon were also, in great spirits!

    Thatcher and Ronnie ended cold war. Yeltsin came later. Maggie and Ronnie forced russians out of business.

  6. #6
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    ^ nostro in lala land

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Butterfly View Post
    ^ nostro in lala land
    Butters your anti US and UK campaign never got anywhere, your French Belgian government is fced up. You live on euro grants, they pay your internet access now. How twisted is that? Belgium, that loser, uncompetitive not as much as your fu!¤ russia but getting there.

  8. #8
    god
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    Quote Originally Posted by nostromo View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by ENT View Post
    Makes ya wanna grin,eh?

    Thatcher and Yetlzin, Muldoon were also, in great spirits!

    Thatcher and Ronnie ended cold war. Yeltsin came later. Maggie and Ronnie forced russians out of business.
    Not a fact.
    The cold war ended in 1990 under Bush Snr, John Major and Gorbachev.
    True enough that Reagan negotiated with Gorbachev over the deal, but Bush Snr claimed the medals.

    Gorbachev was the chief motivator for ending that era, in 1990.

  9. #9
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    Perhaps you are totally blind. Cold war went on for quite a many years, from sixties or some say from late 40s. It was hard work bringing down russia and it required political will which Ronnie and Maggie together were able to achieve. Sure you want to live in Soviet Union but we do not. We like aircon, good big cars, food in shops

    Quote Originally Posted by ENT View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by nostromo View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by ENT View Post
    Makes ya wanna grin,eh?

    Thatcher and Yetlzin, Muldoon were also, in great spirits!

    Thatcher and Ronnie ended cold war. Yeltsin came later. Maggie and Ronnie forced russians out of business.
    Not a fact.
    The cold war ended in 1990 under Bush Snr, John Major and Gorbachev.
    True enough that Reagan negotiated with Gorbachev over the deal, but Bush Snr claimed the medals.

    Gorbachev was the chief motivator for ending that era, in 1990.

  10. #10
    god
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    Read the post again, shit for brains.

    Then go Google or Wiki and get some further reference to check it out instead of waffling off your peurile US indoctrination mantra.

  11. #11
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    nostro, shut the fuck up you fascist retard

  12. #12
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    Gotta love these politicians who can vote for their own pay-rises and then set the hours to bugger all.

  13. #13
    god
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    Politicians are legalised gangsters.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat CaptainNemo's Avatar
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    "lawyers", in other words.

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