The backstory is thus:
The new PM decreed that Parliament, while sitting, should also sit on Fridays. And then he misses the first Friday sitting along with several of the government front-benchers.
What follows is pure comedy as a cardboard cut out of the PM is brought into the House of Reps by the opposition to "fill in", multiple members are ejected by the Speaker, who eventually just cracks and calls off the sitting.
The absolutely perfect timing of that photo to get Abbott in that pose means that photo is more awesome than it has any right to be.ABC News wrote: Cardboard Rudd sparks uproar in Parliament
Substitute: Tony Abbott stands next to the cardboard Kevin Rudd (ABC TV)
There have been chaotic scenes in the House of Representatives, with Opposition MPs brandishing a cardboard cut-out of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and demanding that the real Mr Rudd show his face.
The scenes came after a morning which saw Liberal MP Steve Ciobo ejected from the chamber and forced Speaker Harry Jenkins to call a 15-minute cooling-off period.
Deputy speaker Anna Burke ordered the cardboard figure be removed amid shouts of "we want the Prime Minister here".
Opposition MPs are angry that the new Labor Government has introduced Friday sittings without provision for Question Times or divisions.
Mr Rudd has opted not to attend today's first Friday sitting, deciding instead to visit an Indigenous community in New South Wales before later travelling to flood-devastated Mackay in Queensland.
The row erupted this morning when Mr Ciobo moved that there should be a Question Time every Friday, despite the Government's rules that there will be no Question Times and no divisions taken on Fridays.
It led to the Coalition moving a motion of dissent against Mr Jenkins.
Eventually, Mr Jenkins took the rare step of having Mr Ciobo escorted out of the chamber.
"Because of the gross disorderly conduct of the Member, I ask the sergeant to remove the Member," Mr Jenkins said.
Mr Jenkins ordered Mr Ciobo out of the chamber for an hour, and later suspended Parliament for 15 minutes.
When Parliament resumed, both sides quietly and peacefully discussed lifting organ donation rates before proceedings degenerated again with the arrival of the cardboard cut-out.
Mr Ciobo has defended his actions.
"It's not a stunt - there are some fundamental rights and some fundamental values as a Member of Parliament that we have to stand up for," Mr Ciobo said.
The Manager of Opposition Business in the House, Joe Hockey, says he makes no apologies for his colleagues' actions.
"It's not good enough that Mr Rudd and his ministers are not here five days a week when they demand other members of Parliament to be here five days a week," he said.
"We don't want to have cardboard Kevin here, we want the real Kevin Rudd to be here."
The motion of dissent will not be voted on until Parliament's next sitting on March 11.
The Government stands by its rules and says people will reject the Opposition's negative conduct.
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- PeZook
