Culture

People Are Roasting George Brandis Over His Incredibly Weird Signature

It's like an awful Mr Squiggle drawing.

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This afternoon the Attorney General, George Brandis, issued a press release informing the public the Solicitor-General, Justin Gleeson, had resigned. Gleeson’s resignation is the result of a protracted, public brawl between the two men.

The fight relates to accusations Brandis misled Parliament when he said he had consulted Gleeson over a decision restricting other government ministers from officially seeking his advice.

Gleeson’s full letter of resignation is pretty scorching and he doesn’t pull any punches. He writes that his relationship with Brandis is “irretrievably broken” and accuses the Attorney General of attacking him in a Senate committee.

Brandis’ letter acknowledging the resignation is much more subdued, but there’s one particular part that’s caught the public’s attention.

brandis letter

It’s his incredibly ridiculous signature. Look at it!

bad sig

There isn’t a single letter in there. It’s just a random assortment of squiggles. It wasn’t long before the internet realise this was the really important story in the Brandis-Gleeson saga.

 

The jokes just didn’t stop coming.

The strangest thing is that Brandis’ signature writing capabilities appear to have deteriorated significantly over the years. Here it is in 2011:

2011 bran

And here is today’s again:

bad sig

What’s happened in the past five years? Why has it gone from a relatively legible scribble (you can make at the “G” at least) to a crude drawing of a cartoon jousting knight? As the nation’s most senior legal officer, Brandis would be signing an enormous amount of important documents. We’re talking hundreds a week, if not more.

It’s amazing to think that so many important, influential legal instructions are being signed off with a Mr Squiggle drawing.

Feature image HT Twitter/Josh Taylor