"He's an ugly man, he's always been an ugly man."
—Rickie Lee Jones,
"Ugly Man", Evening of My Best Day (2003)
From the White House transcript of remarks by President of the United States, George W. Bush, to the Australian Parliament in Canberra, October 22, 2003:
PRESIDENT BUSH: . . . By your principled actions, Australia is leading the way to peace in Southeast Asia. And America is grateful. Together -- (audience interruption) -- Together with my country, with Australia, is promoting greater economic opportunity. Our nations are now working to complete a U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement that will add momentum to the free trade throughout the Asia Pacific region, while producing jobs in our own countries. (Audience interruption.)
SPEAKER ANDREW: Senator Nettle will resume her seat. Sergeant, remove Senator Nettle. Senator Nettle will resume her seat. The President has the call. Senator Nettle is warned. The Sergeant will remove Senator Nettle.
PRESIDENT BUSH: I love free speech. (Laughter.)
Members of the public were barred from the Senate chambers for the U.S. President's speech, and prohibited from using public-address systems on the Parliament grounds while the President was there. Protests were limited to a free speech zone, and no vehicles were permitted access to the area (any equipment used by protestors or news media had to be carried in).
Senator Kerry Nettle is a Green Party senator representing New South Wales. Nettle was born in 1973 and grew up in Marsfield in the north west of Sydney. Nettle was elected the first Greens Senator for New South Wales in November, 2001, and took her seat in August, 2002. The first twelve months of her term were dominated by opposition to the Howard government's anti-terrorism and war-related legislation. On October 22, her colleague, Bob Brown, also interrupted the President's speech and as a result, the two were suspended from Parliament for 24 hours.