Canberra's ambulance service has reason to live in dread of Question Time.
Barnaby Joyce in full bloom at the dispatch boxes looks to any halfway medically-inclined observer to be in danger of blowing all his fuses and at least a major gasket.
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Some anxious citizens apparently watch the performance with their fingers hovering above the emergency ambulance speed-dial on their phones.
Who could blame them?
![Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in full flight during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170603092820im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/h/g/f/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwhf4t.png/1496298702040.jpg)
The face reddens until it is deep puce, the veins on Barnaby's neck and his forehead bulge and he begins jabbering, repeating phrases until they become an overwrought staccato, apparently unable to be controlled.
Those seated nearby must surely feel the heat radiating from his funky, vibrating body.
So alarming is the sight that one good citizen of Canberra actually phoned 000 during Question Time recently and demanded an ambulance be sent urgently, because the Deputy Prime Minister was obviously in danger of expiring.
"They were genuinely concerned that he needed quick medical attention," the ACT Ambulance Service's emergency dispatcher, Ian Roebuck, told The Canberra Times
"We explained that he's an adult and can request his own ambulance."
This seems a generous judgment.
Barnaby was at it again on Wednesday.
Asked about the much-maligned Adani proposal for a giant coal mine in Queensland, Barnaby's lips were soon flecked as he unloaded on opposition MPs, claiming they didn't support jobs or mines or "stand behind the coal workers, stand behind the coal workers".
And suddenly, mid-repeated phrase, the face purpling, he switched his frenzied attention to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and - for reasons that didn't appear immediately clear - the evening's big event for those north of the Murray River, the Rugby League State of Origin match between Queensland, known as the Maroons, and NSW, the Blues.
"The Leader of the Opposition is here today - big football game on tonight, he's got a maroon tie and a blue shirt," bellowed Barnaby.
It became somewhat difficult to follow Barnaby's verbal flight after that as, in a wild outbreak of stream of consciousness, he accused Shorten of backing "Queens New South Wales Land".
"He's very - he's very reliable, the Leader of the Opposition. He used to support Gillard over Rudd, and then he supported Rudd over Gillard. He used to support labourers but he doesn't support them anymore. He's turned his back on the labourers."
Lest the ACT Ambulance Service find itself overwhelmed with calls to render urgent assistance, Speaker Tony Smith decided it was time to announce that the Deputy Prime Minister had finished answering the question and that Question Time move on.
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