BARNABY Joyce may have lost the Opposition finance portfolio but he has decided to play to his strengths and revive a long-lost political tradition - the stump speech. The Queensland senator has strung a one-liner about a Kevin Rudd doll together into a comedy routine that is laying them in the aisles, he reckons. The Kevin-doll speech runs through a variety of so-called Kevin Rudd dolls based on the 1970s Ken doll, the male partner doll to Barbie. Senator Joyce's routine includes six or seven Kevins, including 2020 Kevin, Earnest Kevin, Copenhagen Kevin, Combat Kevin, Casualty Kevin and COAG Kevin.
"2020 Kevin sits on the carpet with his legs crossed and a clip board in hand," Senator Joyce said.
"Earnest Kevin is an international man of mystery who's designing new peace programs. Combat Kevin comes with a helmet and goes to war against obesity, homelessness, unemployment, executive salaries.
"Copenhagen Kevin was on the international stage. He was going to cool the world and redesign global economics. "Casualty Kevin comes with a blue smock, a little blue hat, blue booties and blue trousers - all plastic." And so on. Senator Joyce said if the speech keeps working he'll take it on the road for the election campaign.
"The stump speech from the hall is not dead in Australia, it's one of the most powerful political messages because you get real feedback about what is affecting the person, what is affecting these crowds," Senator
Joyce said. "They laugh because all of a sudden they go, `that's it, that's him! "Why did he appear in all that blue crap?"'
Senator Joyce has given versions of the speech in Port Macquarie, Lismore, Rockhampton and Townsville. Yesterday he was at it again in a town just outside St George in southwest Queensland.
Copyright