Parliament resumes with first day spring in the step in Knight ‘toon

I’m sure you all know by now that the school year for 2024 has started. If you don’t, then I suggest you better get moving!

After a long summer break, it’s good to get back to a routine of learning and study and to reconnect with friends and teachers. It is also the start of the political year with the federal parliament this week sitting for the first time for 2024. MPs* and Senators* from all over Australia returned to Canberra to resume debating, passing laws and governing the country after their long break.

Like me, I’m sure you see the connection between the two events. I know when watching parliament Question Time it seems the behaviour of our elected representatives is similar to that of a school playground at times. (Sorry, I have just defamed* all school students.) Interjections*, name calling and abuse provoke* the ire* of the Speaker of the House*, who, like a teacher in the classroom, sends the disruptive politician or politicians out of the chamber for a period of time, maybe to stand in the naughty corner and reflect.

So it was with this in mind that I decided to draw a cartoon based on the “return to school”. Except this school would be the big white government building atop Capitol Hill in Canberra and the students would be our politicians.

To create the scene I would have to fashion school uniforms for our pollies. I decided on blazers, tunics and long shorts in colours of red and blue symbolising the two main political parties of Labor and Liberal. Backpacks and old fashioned school suitcases were added.

I imagined them arriving in a school bus and piling out onto the front concourse of Parliament House.

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would be the main two, but also Federal Treasurer Dr Jim Chalmers and Minister for Climate Change Chris Bowen are great to draw and were in the news this week, so they should be prominent. The Opposition’s Susan Ley and Government Foreign Minister Penny Wong are two more favourites of mine, so I sketched them in as well.

I not only wanted to capture the return to parliament, or “school” as I was depicting* it, but I wanted to also include a reference to what was happening in politics that day. The Prime Minister had just had a win with the Opposition Leader begrudgingly* agreeing to his Stage 3 tax cuts*. PM Albo would be delighted with this start to the political year, so I sketched him merrily* skipping towards class, with a large apple for the teacher, symbolic* of his tax cuts success. Naturally I would have to caricature* the Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s dismay.

Dutton is a delight to draw: dour* at times, a big bald head and a smile is not his natural demeanour*. His rejection of an offer to hold hands with the PM as a sign of their unity on this issue would be classic Dutton and just the ticket to complete the scene.

And so with the bells ringing for the start of the Parliamentary Class of 2024, we wish the politicians, and you the students, all the very best for the year.

POLL

GLOSSARY

• MP: stands for Member of parliament in the House of Representatives (Lower House)
• Senator: member of the Senate (Upper House) representing each state and territory
• Question Time: when members of parliament ask the government to explain its actions and decisions
• defamed: having harmed the good reputation of a person or group by saying something bad about them
• interjections: sudden, short exclamations, brief interruptions
• provoke: cause, give rise to, produce
• ire: anger, rage, fury or irritation
• Speaker of the House: principal office holder in the House of Representatives, the House’s representative, spokesman and meeting chair.
• depicting: portraying, illustrating, representing
• begrudgingly: doing, allowing or accepting something reluctantly and/or resentfully
• Stage 3 tax cuts: changes to taxes on personal income
• merrily: happily, gleefully, joyfully
• symbolic: using an object or some other symbol to express or convey an idea without words
• caricature: exaggerated portrait, a drawing or description exaggerating appearance or behaviour
• dismay: a feeling of unhappiness or distress
• dour: stern or severe in manner and appearance
• demeanour: outward conduct, how one behaves and appears to others

EXTRA READING

No Christmas cheer for taxpayers

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Super Treasurer

Bee winners spell trouble for the PM

QUICK QUIZ

1. When does the behaviour of our elected representatives remind Mark of the playground?
2. What provokes the ire of the Speaker, according to Mark?
3. What was Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s win?
4. What does the apple symbolise in the cartoon?
5. What is Dr Jim Chalmers’ job in the Albanese government?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Humour analysis
After reading and analysing the Mark Knight cartoon in the Kids News explainer, complete the following analysis questions to help you get the full humour out of his drawing.

Mark Knight cartoon analysis:
What is the main issue Mark Knight is highlighting:

Who is portrayed in the cartoon?

How are they portrayed?

What is the humour in the drawing?

Who might agree with his viewpoint?

Who might disagree or possibly be offended by this viewpoint?

Do you think he makes a good point? Explain your answer.

Time: allow 25 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Write a response to this cartoon from the viewpoint of one of the people or objects portrayed in the cartoon. Think, what would be their response to the speech bubble and satire from the cartoon.

Write or draw your response below.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Stretch your sentence
Find a “who” in the cartoon – a person or an animal. Write it down.

Add three adjectives to describe them better.

Now add a verb to your list. What are they doing?

Add an adverb about how they are doing the action.

Using all the words listed, create one descriptive sentence.