Ted O’Brien Finds Himself Chuckling At The ‘Never Touch A Black Man’s Radio!’ Scene From ‘Rush Hour’ During Productivity Roundtable

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

Shadow Treasurer and Liberal Party deputy Ted O’Brien has again raised eyebrows inside the party room this week after unexpectedly breaking into Rush Hour monologues during a closed-door productivity roundtable.

According to several colleagues present, O’Brien lost focus during a discussion on tax incentives and began chuckling to himself before loudly blurting out the line, “Never touch a black man’s radio!” in reference to the 1998 buddy cop film starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

“Honestly, we don’t know what sets him off,” said one Liberal MP who asked not to be named.

“We’ll be deep in the weeds on capital gain reforms, and Ted will just start quoting Rush Hour. Last week it was ‘Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?’ while Angus Taylor was mid-sentence. It’s getting unworkable.”

The interjections have become so frequent that colleagues are now quietly wondering whether O’Brien suffers from undiagnosed ADHD. Sources say he is known to pace the corridor outside the party room while “making kung fu noises” before returning mid-debate with another out-of-context quip.

Andrew Hastie is reportedly the most irritated by the behaviour, telling friends that he hasn’t sat through a feature film since he was “forced” to take his younger brothers to see Jingle All The Way in 1996.

“He doesn’t even get the references,” one staffer explained.

“He just sits there stone-faced while Ted is in tears over Chris Tucker. The man reads briefing papers for fun, you think he’s got time for Jackie bloody Chan? He turned to [Andrew] Hastie and goes in a faux Chinese accent, ‘I aint no punk bitch!’ He’s lucky he’s still got his front teeth, I tell you.”

While colleagues hope the Shadow Treasurer can eventually focus long enough to address rising inflation and interest rates, insiders concede the odds aren’t good.

More to come.