blog The Murdoch-owned Herald Sun newspaper has uncovered a shocking fact about Greens Communications spokesperson Scott Ludlam: He’s a reader.

Apparently, Ludlam has been buying books and reading them in order to learn things about the world, and then claiming the cost of the books through a parliamentary entitlement set up for the purpose. The article exposing this disturbing fact states:

“Senator Scott Ludlam slugged taxpayers more than $4500 in a year on books and publications including Pornography of Power: Why defence spending must be cut; How to Make Trouble and Influence People, a book celebrating disruptive protest; and The Bittersweet World of Chocolate, billed as a guide to socially responsible chocolate cooking.”

Frankly, we were reluctant to believe the rumours that Ludlam was a filthy book reader. Even though the Senator had previously professed a love of the literature of science fiction author William Gibson, we had thought Ludlam’s enthusiasm for Neuromancer must have been a casual sophomoric flirtation rather than an enduring interest — kind of an imbibe but don’t inhale thing in university.

To discover that the Senator is regularly reading actual books and educating himself about global events … this calls into question everything we thought we knew and believed to be true about politicians. Every rational Australian must call for an end to this shocking behaviour immediately. There is no doubt that Ludlam must take a long, hard look at himself and consider his future in politics. In fact, perhaps a broader, more final solution is needed to this insidious societal curse.

Image credit: David Howe, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported licence