By Michael Gordon, Political editor, The Age.
What struck new MP Tim Watts most about question time when he took his seat in the Parliament after the last election was not the rancour, or the shallowness, or the pettiness or even the name-calling. It was the noise.
So Watts downloaded a noise-meter on his iPad and discovered the level peaked at more than 130 decibels when Tony Abbott was in full flight at the dispatch box, provoking a cacophony of interjections from friends behind him and the enemies opposite.
This was the equivalent of the sound from a four-engine jet from a distance of 30 metres.
