The following podcast contains explicit language.

It's Tuesday, February 7, 2017, from Slate, it's the Gisdai Mike Pesca.

Malcolm Turnbull, the Prime Minister of Australia, was recently hung up on by Donald Trump.

And now, the Australian Liberal Party leader, that was not really that liberal, just branding,

kind of conservative party.

Anyway, the Lib leader is facing another disconnection.

Larry Bernardi, a senator who gives the governing coalition a slim plurality in the Senate,

says he's leaving.

He wants to form his own party, the conservative party, and befitting a nation where 90% of

the populist lives on a coast, he cloaked his decision in a churning, wending, nautical

metaphor.

When, as a younger man, I joined the ship of state.

I was in awe of its traditions and the great captains that had guided us on our way.

But now, as the seas through which we sail, become evermore challenging.

The respect for the values and principles that have served us well seemed to have been

set aside for expedient self-serving short-term ends.

That approach has not served our nation well.

And yet, after all that sea-faring, he capped it with the most terrestrial of clichés.

Every journey begins with a first step.

Today, Mr. President, I take that first step.

That doesn't mean you're going to drown with that step.

Richard D'Nattali of the Green Party took to the Australian Senate right afterwards two

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